


When Blaise and Hermione play Matchmaker

by sunset_oasis



Series: Drarry Stories [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: EWE, F/M, Harry Potter Next Generation, M/M, Post Hogwarts AU, Post-Battle of Hogwarts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-08-08 16:39:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7765264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunset_oasis/pseuds/sunset_oasis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Albus Severus Potter never understood why potions Professor Draco Malfoy always gave him lots of detentions. When he told his best friend's godfather Blaise Zabini about this, Blaise realized Draco might actually still have feelings for Harry Potter. Along with his girlfriend Hermione Granger, the two decided two help Draco and Harry get together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Detention of Albus Severus Potter

**Author's Note:**

> This work is originally posted on my FFN : https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11803161/1/.  
> Hope you all enjoy this postwar Drarry fic :)  
> I don't own Harry Potter.

Albus Severus Potter never exactly understood why the Potions professor was always putting him in detention for the most absurd reasons.  So what if his words on the potions essays weren’t extremely neat – it was intelligible enough to in his opinion!  So what if he said he didn’t want to eat apples at breakfast?  Just because the professor liked apples himself, did that mean every Slytherin student should, too?  And when he was merely a minute late to class with a group of Slytherins, he was the only that would be put in detention.  How was that any fair? 

For Merlin’s sake, he was a _Slytherin_.  Not a Gryffindor.  It was quite understandable for Professor Malfoy, head of Slytherin to target Gryffindor students, but it made no sense when he did that to one of his own Slytherins.  Especially the Slytherin who was best friend with his son Scorpius.

Scorpius couldn’t figure it out either.  He tried asking his father about it, but Draco had merely dismissed the suggestion and said they were over-imagining things.  They both knew that Scorpius wouldn’t believe the outright lie, but apparently Draco didn’t care if his son bought it.  He just wanted to make the impression that he refused to discuss this subject.

So it had been the 2 boys’ quest to find out the reason behind Draco’s actions.

Albus would admit that Professor Malfoy wasn’t actually mean to him.  He did praised him for his talents in potions, and he never said overly harsh words to him like he did to the Gryffindors either.  He just, well, gave him lots and lots of detentions.  Sometimes they were quite tiresome - he would ask Albus to clean his office for him after specifically requesting the Hogwarts elves not to clean it – but sometimes he would just ask him to bring his homework to work there.  Occasionally, he would ask Albus to help him with some hard potions he was brewing.  Albus rather liked those times when he got a chance to try the more advanced potions.

 

* * *

 

“That sounded like personal advanced potions lessons,” mused Daisy Nott, “you’re really good at potions, it’s not strange that he wants to personally train you.  Maybe he doesn’t want other students to flocking towards him for extra lessons too so he uses the detentions as covers.”

 Albus frowned at the miniature of Aunt Pansy sitting across him, “Daisy, if that’s the case, won’t he use more of the detentions for potions making instead of asking me to scrub the floors?”

 “I did wonder before if he asked you to report my actions to him though,” Scorpius said. “It sounds like the type of things Dad would do.  Being protective in his own way.”

 “I’m your best friend, Scor,” Albus sounded offended, “I won’t report your actions to anyone else.”

 “I know, I believe you,” the blond said in a placating voice.

 “And if that’s the case, wouldn’t he have asked me too?” Daisy added, “I’m your friend too, you know.”

 “Yeah, yeah, I know,” Scorpius laughed, “Calm down, guys.  I said ‘before’ didn’t I?  It’s just another dismissed theory now.  Come on, Al, we needed to head towards Hogsmeade now if we don’t want to miss our lunch with Uncle Blaise.”

 The two boys finished the last bits of their breakfast quickly while Daisy complained, “Wish I could go with you guys.  I don’t understand why Mike just had to arrange a particular Quidditch training just for the chasers on a Hogsmeade weekend.”

 Albus and Scorpius, one being the seeker and another being the keeper, looked at each other and wisely decided not to comment on the subject.  After a slightly awkward silence, they grabbed their bags and bid the annoyed girl a hasty goodbye.

 

* * *

 

“Uncle Blaise!” Scorpius and Albus greeted Scorpius’ godfather enthusiastically once they saw him standing in front of 3 broomsticks.

 “Hello there, my little Slytherin Princes,” the dark-skinned man chuckled. “Broken any girl’s heart lately?”

“I thought that was your job?” Albus joked.  Blaise, the famous Italian Slytherin playboy ever since his Hogwarts years, laughed out loud at this and gave the boy a gentle shove.

“C’mon, let’s go inside now,” Blaise said, winking at them. “If you guys be good, I’ll order firewhiskey for you and it’ll be our little secret that Draco doesn’t need to know.”

“Speaking of Dad, we’ve got something to ask you, Uncle Blaise,” Scorpius began as they sat down at a table.  They quickly explained the situation between Albus and Draco.

Blaise’s grin got wider as the story went and in the end he was laughing so hard the mystified the boys.  “Well, well, I just found it funny that it seems to be some tradition that a Potions professor always targeting a Potter.”

“What?” Albus stared, shocked. “Did you mean … Dad and Professor Snape?”

“Yeah, sure,” Blaise smirked. “Neither of them ever told you?”

“No… ” Albus said. “Professor Snape always seems so nice.  He’s the nicest portrait in Hogwarts!  He always gives us tips with our homework.”

“Wow … that man has definitely grown softer after death,” Blaise shook his head disbelievingly.  “Are you sure it’s the same Severus Snape we’re talking about, boys?”

“I guess it wouldn’t be that surprising,” Scorpius said slowly, “Al’s dad was a Gryffindor wasn’t he?  But that doesn’t explain our situation here.  Albus is a Slytherin.  Dad rarely gave Slytherins detentions, and it’s usually for really serious offenses.  Not something like … not eating apples for breakfast or not writing an essay with really neat words.”

“Not eating apples?” Blaise raised his eyebrows. “Tell me this is a joke.”

“It isn’t,” sighed Albus, glaring at the adult who burst into laughter upon hearing his reply. “This isn’t funny!  And you, Scorpius Malfoy!  Stop laughing too!”

“Oh, but it is,” Blaise sniggered, wiping away the tears of laughter. “Best joke of the year, I’ll say.”

Albus looked slightly annoyed at first but soon join the laughter.  He had to admit that this did sound pretty absurd.

After a while, Blaise sobered up.  Looking at Albus, he asked, “Did you ever tell your father about this, Albus?”

“No,” Albus shook his head.  With his parents divorced and being the only child, he had grown independent over the years.  He also didn’t want to bother his father with this kind of trivial stuffs when the work of Aurors always seemed to be so busy.  Usually, he just confided in his best friend Scorpius, who, like him, also had divorced parents and was the only child.  Besides, he didn’t think his Gryffindor dad would understand Slytherin’s professor-student problem. “He’s always really busy.  And it’s not like it’s a big problem for me either – more of like a mystery.”

“Hmm,” Blaise said, taking a sip of the firewhiskey. “Did you two know your fathers knew each other during Hogwarts?”

“They did?!” Albus sounded surprised.

“In history of magics Binns did mention Harry Potter started Hogwarts in 1991 … calculating Dad’s age … wow, they were in the same year, weren’t they?” Scorpius quickly did some mental math in his brain. “So you mean they knew each other personally?  Dad never mentioned he was familiar with the famous Harry Potter.”

“They were familiar, but not in the sense of friends.  They were arch-nemesis back in those days.  Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy.  The Gryffindor Golden Boy and the Slytherin Ice Prince.” Blaise explained, reminiscing the old days. “I guess it’s not the kind of things they mention in history of magic.”

“So … he doesn’t like dad?” Albus asked, looking a little worried. “But … he doesn’t seem to mind me being Scor’s friend … or does he?”

“Don’t think so, if he does I’m sure he would’ve done something to stop it.” Scorpius reasoned. “Do they still hate each other now?  Or was it just during the school days?”

Blaise looked at the two teenagers, pondering how much to tell them.  Considering the information he just fed them, it was perhaps not so wise to mention his suspicions that Draco fancied Harry secretly.  At least not now.  “I don’t think so.  Well … in the Second Wizarding War, they saved each other’s lives on two different occasions.  I guess that make that sort of awkward for both of them after the war ended, hence the reason they never spoke of it.”

“So … he hated Dad back at school, then they happened to save each other’s lives?” Albus asked suspiciously.

“Hating each other doesn’t necessary mean wanting the other one to be dead.  It’s just houses rivalry.” Blaise shrugged. “Although I’ll admit the two went far beyond the normal house-rivalry back then.  And in our times the Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry was much nastier than yours now.  Anyway, they did saved each other.  Even if it was for keeping someone they could fight with around.”

“But I don’t think they kept each other around, do they?” Scorpius frowned. “I’ve never seen them even meet each other.”

“Yeah, I guess that part didn’t work out.  Probably didn’t imagine it would be that awkward for both of them.”

“Or it could just be they are both really busy with their jobs,” Albus said, sounding like an adult.  “Dad rarely meets with his friends these days, he just focused on his job.  When you’re so busy and hardly have any time for your friends, it’s not surprising he didn’t spare time for school-era rivals, is it?”

“Guess you have a point,” Blaise laughed, thinking of how he missed the school days.  It had really been a long time since he and Draco and Theo gathered together.

The trio finished their lunch, then Blaise said he needed to pick his new girlfriend up from the Ministry.  Albus and Scorpius decided to go to Zonko’s and buy something for Daisy since she didn’t joined them.

 

* * *

 

The next Friday, Albus found himself doing detention in Professor Malfoy’s office again.  Sighing, he started cleaning the office.

Draco Malfoy sat at his desk, grading essays.  Occasionally, he would look at the young boy when Albus wasn’t facing him.  Albus resembled Harry greatly, with the same small body frame and messy hair.  One big difference was he wore Slytherin robes instead of Gryffindor ones.  Draco indulged himself in some fantasy of how Harry would’ve been like had he been in Slytherin.  He would’ve looked so much nicer in silver and green … not that he didn’t look nice in the first place.

After half an hour of working, Albus was sweating.  He took of his outer robes and revealed a lean, lightweight body wearing a simple white T-shirt.  The sweat made the T-shirt translucent, showing the young boy’s muscles underneath.  It was clear from the muscles that Albus was a hard-training Quidditch player.  Draco stared at the boy’s back, thinking of how this looked so much like Harry.  He hadn’t seen Harry for a long time, and his memories of him were mostly from the school days when they were both still teenagers.

When Albus turned around, Draco quickly turned his attention back to the essays.

 

* * *

 

The next morning, Draco found someone popping up his fireplace.

“Blaise!” Draco exclaimed, “What brings you here?”

“Can’t I visit an old friend?” Blaise pretended to look hurt, at which Draco rolled his eyes.  He pulled his best friend into a tight embrace and invited him to sit. “Tea?”

“Sure, thank you.” Blaise accepted the tea.  “I’ve got something I want to discuss with you.”

“Oh?  Pray tell.”

“It’s about … love.” Blaise paused for dramatic effects.

“You don’t need to update me on your love life, Blaise,” Draco snorted. “Wait … do you want me to help you to get some female professor at Hogwarts?  So you and Granger broke up?”

“Hermione and I are great, thanks.  I’m not here to talk about my love life, I’m here to talk about _yours_.”

“I don’t _have_ a love life, Blaise.”

“Exactly.” Blaise said rather smugly, “But don’t worry.  I’m about to fix that.”

“Please tell me you did not set me on a date with some girl from your department or I’ll kill you.” Draco groaned. “The last time you –”

“Don’t worry.  I didn’t.” Blaise cut across him. “It’s about Harry Potter.”

“What?!” Draco spluttered. “Just because you enjoy dating a Gryffindor that doesn’t mean I want to follow your footsteps!”

“Stop the pretense, Draco,” Blaise scoffed. “You’ve always like him, haven’t you?”

Draco looked stunned.  He wanted to ask how Blaise got the absurd idea, but nothing came out.  All he could think of was, _how the hell did Blaise knew?_

If Blaise only had suspicions about his guesses before, Draco’s stunned expression confirmed all he needed to know.  Smirking slightly at his shocked best friend, he began conspiring a plan in his mind.

-TCB-


	2. The Story of How Hermione and Blaise Met

The first time Hermione Granger met her current boyfriend, Blaise Zabini, after Hogwarts was when Harry had been sent to Saint Mungo’s after an Auror mission a little over a year ago.  Ginny was away with her Quidditch team Holyhead Harpies in America at that time, so it was mainly Ron and Hermione who stayed with Harry during that period.  Harry always said he didn’t blame Ginny for this, since her job had required her to do so, but Hermione knew that incident somehow marked the beginning of the end of their marriage.

They had been surprised to find out Harry’s healer was their ex-classmate, Blaise Zabini.  Perhaps more shocking was that he had treated them with a polite and professional attitude they hadn’t been expecting from a Slytherin.  Then again, Slytherins could get very diplomatic when they wanted to be.

Hermione, always the one thirst for knowledge, had found some of the healing spells and potions used very interesting and had spent the nights accompanying Harry discussing those with Blaise.  At first he had kept his Slytherin cool and was brief and professional during the discussions, but later on he had become more passionate with the explaining, sensing Hermione was one of the few people outside the healing profession who would be smart enough to understand those stuff. 

Hermione also remembered how Blaise’s voice had filled with some hint of pride when he told her about a healing potions he had used, which was an invention of Draco’s.  And how Harry had stared at her disbelievingly when she had told him this piece of information.

However, after Harry had St. Mungo’s, they didn’t have the chance to meet for quite some long time.  A few months later, a Ministry Decree concerning St. Mungo’s was being waiting to be passed, and she had attended the discussion as the head of The Department of Magical Law Enforcement while he had attended on the behalf of St. Mungo’s.  After the meeting, he had invited her to dinner.  Then –

Hermione’s mind snapped back into present time as she saw Harry walking into her office, with the pair of empty eyes and an air of determination to bury himself in work that had been there since the day he and Ginny divorced.  She sighed to herself.  At first she was glad he was using work as a distraction, but gradually she realized it was not that healthy.  The fact that he still needed to use work as a distraction 8 months now on meant he wasn’t getting anywhere with his love life.  Actually, she thought that he wasn’t getting anywhere with any aspect of his life save from his Auror work.  And here she thought _she_ was supposed to be the over-working type, considering her bookworm reputation from school.

“Hi Harry,” she smiled at him, noticing the dark circles under his eyes as he came nearer.

“Hermione,” he smiled back, she couldn’t help but notice a trace of tiredness in his voice. “Here.  This month’s Auror reports.”

“Thanks, Harry,” she nodded at him, then after some hesitation she said, “Harry, I’m really worried about you.  I appreciate your hard work in the auror department, but I think you’re overworking yourself too much.  You should take a break.  And meet some girls, too.  It’ll be good for you.”

“Thanks Mione, but I’m fine.” He sent her a reassuring smile. “I happen to enjoy being a workaholic, you know.”

“Yeah right,” she said sarcastically, “I supposed I should’ve known.  After all, I did went to Hogwarts with you, didn’t I?”

Harry chuckled at that. “Alright, I don’t enjoy being a workaholic,” he conceded, “it’s just that it’s a better option than spending too much free time mourning over my lost love life.  Being an Auror is exciting enough to distract me from the mourning.”

She was slightly taken aback by how easily he admitted his feelings.  However, she could also sense his reluctance to change his current lifestyle.  As he bid her goodbye and left the room, she frowned his retreating back and sighed again.

 

* * *

 

Later that night, she and Blaise went to see a movie at some muggle theater.  When she first wanted to introduce Blaise the concept of a movie on their fourth date, she had found him already knowing it.  It seemed that one of his stepfathers used to take him to the movies when he was young.  At her shocked expression, he had smirked to her, “it’s so easy to prejudge a Slytherin isn’t it, Miss Granger?  Don’t worry, I don’t take any offense since I treasure the opportunity to surprise you.”

It was after the movies that they went for a drink in the Leaky Cauldron and Hermione brought up her worries of Harry to Blaise.  The Italian raised a very interested eyebrow at that.

“I would’ve thought he’s moved on from Ginevra by now,” he commented. “However, if not, he’s very lucky that I know exactly the right person to spark his interest and add some spice into his life.”

“You sure, Blaise?” Hermione asked skeptically. “He doesn’t seem to take any interest in any witch he had contact with recently.  Granted, he’s focused on work, but he had plenty of chance to attend ministry meetings where he has to talk to witches, too.”

“Well, then it’s a good thing that the person I’m talking about is no witch, is it?” Blaise winked at her mischievously.

“What?! Do you mean muggle –”

“Of course not,” he said amusedly, “it’s one thing to enjoy muggle entertainment.  This is a completely different matter.  What I mean was, the person I’m referring to, is a _wizard_.  Not a _witch_.”

“You think Harry’s bisexual?” She raised her eyebrows.

“I don’t know if he’s bisexual or not, but I’ve always suspect he had a thing for my good pal Draco Malfoy.  And the feeling goes both way.” He grinned and eyed her expectantly, as if waiting for her shocked reaction.

However, it was Blaise who was shocked when Hermione nodded thoughtfully, “yeah, I’ve always wondered that too.”

At Blaise’s surprised face, Hermione smiled sweetly, “What?  Did you think the Slytherins are the only ones that are sharp enough to make observations?  I guess it’s easy to prejudge a Gryffindor, Mr Zabini.  No worries, I don’t take offense since I enjoy your gobsmacked expression.  And how you tried to quickly cover that with the Slytherin cool mask.  It wasn’t successful but it’s quite cute.”

He scowled at her good-naturedly. “Glad to be your entertainment, love.”

She laughed and ruffled his hair fondly.  Then she said, “I don’t think Harry ever realized his own feelings though –”

“—imagine my surprise –” Blaise muttered under his breath, at which Hermione punched him in the arm playfully.

“but Ron and I both agreed that he was a bit _too_ obsessed with Malfoy at that time.  Though I don’t think Ron ever thought there was more than … more than rivalry,” she finished.

“Good, I’d hate to find out that someone like Weasley had the tact to figure it out, too.  It will make the world spin off its axis.” He smirked.  She glared at him and he held up his hand in surrender. “Okay, that’s not the point.  It’s been years since they last met, and I want to arrange something … for them to meet, for Potter to realized his inner self, and … we’ll see what go on from there.”

“What about Malfoy? He needs to realize his inner self too.” Hermione frowned.

“Oh, Draco already knew,” Blaise grinned. “He fancied Potter all along.  He’s just bitter Potter turned down his hand on the train.”

 

* * *

 

After not much convincing from Blaise’s part, Slughorn agreed to hold a big party for his upcoming 80th birthday.  He also planned to invite many of his Slug Club Members and prominent members of wizarding society.  Blaise, Hermione, and Harry were invited for they were practically platinum members of the club, and Draco was invited because he’s the newest potions master at Hogwarts these days.  Ginny wouldn’t be able to come since she was off playing a Quidditch tournament in Australia.

Hermione got the harder task of convincing Harry to come.  (Blaise had assured her that Draco always wanted to join one of the Slughorn’s parties so there was no need to worry about him.)  Unsurprisingly, the self-proclaimed workaholic flatly stated that he was too busy.  However, truth was that Harry had been trying to find as many cases for himself as possible so he didn’t have to deal with his social life (or love life). 

“It’s just taking one night off, Harry,” Hermione said firmly, “one night.  That’s it.  You’re coming.  No arguments.”

Harry tried to argue, but Hermione wouldn’t budge.  In the end, he grudgingly admitted that it probably wouldn’t hurt to relax for one night.  He supposed he could avoid talking to people and simply enjoy the foods and wines. 

Little did Harry knew that his plan for a not-too-much-talking night would go wrong.  Nor did imagined he would meet Draco Malfoy at the party.

 

* * *

 

Draco had been nervous since he learnt that Harry was invited to the party, too.  Though he wasn’t sure if Potter would come.  _He must come,_ Draco thought. _That git loves spotlight._

He hadn’t seen him for such a long time, he wondered how he had changed since then.   Running the comb through his hair for the who-knew-how-many time, he eyed his perfect necktie again in a worried way.  It seemed a little off-centre.  About to fix it, a sudden voice spoke up behind him.

“Draco, put that comb down and stop fussing over your hair,” Blaise snapped, “Don’t worry about your hair.  At its worst, it’s still a thousand time better than Potter’s.”

“Hey! I refused to let my hair be compared to _Potter’s_.” Draco cried out outrageously. A nearby Malfoy Manor house-elf flinched. “That hardly sounds like a compliment at all.”

“Hate to be the one to break it to you, but that’s because it isn’t a compliment.  Hurry up, will you?” Blaise stole another glance at his watch. “We’re supposed to meet Hermione in 3 minutes.”

“Fine,” Draco huffed.  He stood up slowly and studied himself in the mirror for a moment.

“You look perfect, Draco,” Blaise called over him, “Had I been interested in man, I’d fall in love with you.  Now come _on_!”

Reluctantly, Draco turned away from the mirror and walked over to Blaise.  Blaise grabbed hold of Draco’s hand and apparated them both.

 

* * *

 

“They should be here any moment now…” Hermione muttered under her breath.

“They?” Harry squinted his eyes, “I thought we are just meeting Zabini so you can waltz into the party with him.”

“He’s bringing one of his friends,” Hermione waved her hand dismissively.

“It better not be some silly young girl just out of Hogwarts,” Harry said darkly. “Don’t think I don’t know what you might try to –”

He was interrupted by a loud “pop” in the air.

“Hermione, you look stunningly gorgeous,” Blaise smiled as he took Hermione’s hand.  She blushed.

“Granger, you might not want to believe it,” Draco drawled, his eyes sparkling with amusement. “He just told me I look perfect.  How do you know if he doesn’t plan on complimenting everyone’s appearance?”

Harry’s eyes were focused on Draco, as if shocked to see him there, and didn’t notice the exchange.  Draco, on the other hand, didn’t seem to notice Harry yet as he teased Blaise.

“Because I won’t,” Blaise said haughtily. “Let me show you then.  Potter, your hair still looks like a crazed budger as I remember from last time.  Good to know that some things don’t change.  We all need a few stable things in our life.”

Draco’s eyes snapped up and met Harry’s as soon as Blaise said “Potter”.  He didn’t paid attention to the rest of Blaise’s sentences.  “If this isn’t the Golden Boy himself.  Long time no see, Scarhead.”

“Long time indeed, ferret,” Harry shot back.

“Well, have fun, boys,” Blaise smirked, starting to lead Hermione to the party entrance. “Hermione and I are going inside.”

Harry paid no attention to this as he continued to glare at Draco, the latter muttering under his breath, “I’m going to kill Blaise.”

“Hey, Malfoy,” Harry said suddenly, as if remembering something.

“What, Potter?” Draco snapped.

Harry had meant to tell Draco that Blaise cured him with one of the potions Draco invented and praise him for his talent.  But at Draco’s hostile attitude, he suddenly didn’t feel like it. “Nothing,” Harry said coldly, “let’s go inside.”  He shoved past Draco, the latter seemed to be surprised at the body contact, but quickly regained his calm and followed Harry inside.

-TBC-


	3. The Party at Slughorn's

The party was held at Slughorn’s house, where the living room was charmed thrice the original size to hold more people.  However, it was still quite crowded with many people being invited.  Looking around, Harry already lost sight of Hermione and Blaise.  To his dismay, he saw one of his least favorite people rushing towards him.

“Mr. Potter!  Knew we’d meet you here!” Rita Skeeter beamed at him. “There are currently rumors about your ex-wife, Ginevra Weasley, dating her fellow Quidditch team player Dean Thomas.  Do you have anything to comment on the matter?”

“Go away,” Harry scowled.

 _His expression turned sour dramatically after Ms. Weasley was mentioned, apparently still upset about the divorce.  From the fact that Mr. Potter failed to bring a date, it’s easily seen that he’s still mourning over_ –

Harry glared at that quick-quotes-quill and very much wanted to rip it away from Skeeter’s notebook.

“Are you seeing any new lady recently, Mr. Potter?” Rita continued, totally oblivious to Harry’s anger.

“I said, go away,” Harry snarled. 

“It doesn’t surprise me in the least bit that after so many years, the Golden Boy is still the most famous gossip around.  I bet you’ll be on the cover of tomorrow’s _Prophet_.” Draco drawled, sauntering over to Harry lazily. “Never the one to resist the spotlight, eh, Potter?”

“Mr. Malfoy! Didn’t realize you’re here,” Rita turned to him happily, her eyes lighting up like she just found more headline materials.

“Yeah, that’s right.” Draco muttered under his breath. “Everyone always just notice Potter.  Perfectly understandable.”

Rita continued as if she hadn’t heard Draco, “I’ve got a few questions for you too.  I’ve heard there are some student’s parent opposing their children being taught by an ex-Death-Eater.  What’s your comment?”

 _With the faint Dark Mark on his left arm that had faded after the Death of His-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named but still visible, the ex-Death-Eater, now current potions professor at Hogwarts –_ The quick-quotes-quill paused to wait for Draco’s answer, eager to twist and expand the reply.

 _Served him right to be asked these questions,_ Harry thought viciously.  But when he saw Draco paled instantly at the question, biting his lips and looking downcast, looking so utterly unMalfoy, he suddenly felt a little sympathy towards him.  _At least I’m only being asked stupid love questions, and he had to be reminded of some cruel memory of a 15-years-ago mistake he once made._

“I have no problem of him teaching my son,” Harry found himself saying angrily towards Rita, “He said Malfoy’s a good teacher.”

Draco looked bewildered at Harry’s sudden outburst.  _Did Potter just defend me?_

Harry looked pretty shocked at himself, too.  Huffing, he decided to turned away and blend himself into the crowd, ignoring both Rita and Draco.

 

* * *

 

“What’s that woman doing here?” Blaise glanced over the crowds and squinted his eyes at where Draco, Harry, and Rita were. “I thought no journalists are allowed.”

“Who?” Hermione frowned.  Being a head shorter than Blaise, all she could see was the massive crowds. “Someone from the _Prophet_?”

“Rita Skeeter,” Blaise informed her. Before he could say another word, Hermione started dragging him through the crowds towards the direction he was glancing.

When a fuming Hermione reached the place where the trio had originally been, there was only Rita Skeeter jotting on her notebook delightfully. 

“You, get out of this party where you’re not invited, and don’t you dare write a damn thing about anyone you’ve interviewed here,” Hermione hissed at Rita threateningly. Then she lowered her voice. “Because I know your little secret.”

“Always coming to Potter’s defenses, aren’t you?” Rita raised her eyebrows with disdain. “Are you secretly involved with Potter and merely using Zabini as a cover, or you just enjoying dating more than one person at the same time?  Like what you were doing in the year of Triwizard Tournament?”

“Ms. Skeeter,” Blaise interjected coldly, “I sincerely suggested that you leave now.  Trust me, you won’t like to find out the consequences of antagonizing my girlfriend.”

“Mr. Zabini,” Rita turned to gaze at him with some amusement in her eyes. “Being a playboy yourself, how does it feel to have _your_ heart being played with this time?”

“Leave this party now and don’t you dare print anything,” Hermione cut across icily. “Or I’ll make you regret it.”

Finally sensing Hermione’s seriousness, Rita glared at them then turned to leave with a sour expression.  Hermione stared hard at the retreating back of the reporter, looking extremely furious.  Blaise noticed how tense her shoulders were and gently started rubbing them.

“Hey love, calm down,” he said in a soothing voice. “Let’s go get some drinks?”

 

* * *

 

Draco wandered around in the crowds and greeted some acquaintance, trying to forget what just happened.  He had his Malfoy mask back on now, but below his calm and cool he felt pained.  _I’ll never be able to leave that history behind me_ , he thought bitterly.

“Oi, Malfoy,” a sudden hand grabbed him on the shoulders. “Are you ... alright?”

Draco whirled around and found Potter frowning at him, looking a little … was that concern in his eyes?

“Oh, I’m alright.  Absolutely fantastic, actually.” Draco replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “First I was again reminded by how popular and famous you are with that Skeeter woman trying to get hold of you the second you step into this party, then I found out I’m just as headline-material as you are because I’m an ex-Death-Eater.  Just fucking splendid.”

After saying that, Draco shook Harry’s hand off him and left angrily, quickly melting into the party people.  He felt some tears threatening to fall and blink several times to keep them back.  It had been many years but sometimes if felt just like yesterday.  Even the majority of people had moved on and forgiven him, apparently the mistake would continue to haunt him.  And he had no right to complain.

 

* * *

 

Blaise excused himself to fetch some champagne as Hermione stopped to chat with Neville.  However, instead of heading towards where champagne was served, he walked over to Harry.

“Hey Potter.  Since I’m busy taking care of your best friend, why don’t you do me a favor and go keep an eye on mine.  I’m worried about him.” Blaise nodded in Draco’s direction. 

“Why don’t you do that yourself?” Harry snapped at him. “What kind of best friend are you?”

“Well, it’s my responsibility to make sure Hermione enjoy this party,” said Blaise smoothly. “Seeing as you’re quite bored without a date, I think it’s a perfectly suitable task for you.  And if Skeeter just upset him, it’s your fault too.  Since she probably came to the party hoping to catch _you_.”

“What?!”

“Face it Potter.  No matter how many years after the war, you’ll always be the journalist’s favorite topic.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to Hermione.” Blaise gave Harry a mocking bow and left gracefully.  

 

* * *

 

Harry cautiously went near Draco, who was standing in a corner far away from the crowds and wearing a sullen expression.  The blond raised a sneering eyebrow at his direction upon his arrival, but didn’t say anything.

“What did you came to the party for if you’re just going to sulk in the corner?”

Draco was secretly a little glad that someone had come to find him after the miserable incident with Rita Skeeter, even though that someone was Potter. Or perhaps _because_ that someone was Potter.  He really wasn’t sure which better described the situation.  Nevertheless, he replied coldly, “I’m content with sulking in the corner.  Why don’t you leave me alone and go play with the ladies?”

Offended and cursing Blaise mentally, Harry snapped, “Oh yeah, like I’m so eager for _your_ company.  I’m only here because Zabini asked me to check on you since he is busy taking care of Hermione.”

“Bloody nice, Potter.  So you only came because Blaise asked you to.  You don’t actually cared in the least bit, do you?” Draco said bitterly, before suddenly realized how that might sound.  _Fuck, did I just said that?  What will Potter think?  Does that sound like I actually hope that he’ll care?_

“So sorry to your Malfoy pureblood ego,” Harry sneered, all his previous pity for Draco quickly replaced by annoyance.  “But not everyone is obliged to care about you.” _Obnoxious prat._

“You think I need you to tell me that?” Draco snarled, fingers clenching the glass he’s holding fiercely.  He felt his heart aching painfully.  “Of course I know _nobody_ ever care.  Even my best friend wants to play with her girlfriend instead of coming to ask if I’m fine.  So he sent you.  And you think I should be grateful that you came?  Well, the truth is I think that you can screw your pretense of Gryffindor nobility and fucking go away.  Leave me alone.  Oh and if you see Blaise, tell him he’s an idiot from me.”

Harry frowned at the outburst.  _Merlin, Malfoy sounded so … lonely._  He supposed he should think that this is well-deserved for the prat, but somehow … Biting his lip and feeling unsure, Harry didn’t leave.  Instead, he took cautious step towards Draco.

“No,” Harry said, keeping his voice calm and steady.

“What?” Draco demanded, setting the glass down on the table and folding his arms across his chest. “Surely even you realize Blaise is an —”

“No, I’m not going to leave you alone,” Harry clarified. “Honestly, Malfoy, you look like you can use some company.”

“I don’t need your pity, Potter,” Draco snapped, “go play hero somewhere else.  I vividly remember moments ago you said you don’t want to be in my company.”

“Damn it Malfoy, why can’t you just shut up and accept the help graciously?” Harry asked exasperatedly.

“Why can’t you leave me alone and accept the fact that I’m not obliged to satisfy your stupid hero desire to help everyone?”

Having said that, Draco stormed away again, this time towards the entrance.  He paused at the entrance for a moment and wondered if he should tell Blaise that he was leaving, then decided against it.  As he prepared to step out, he felt someone grabbed his left arm. 

“Where are you going?” It was Potter.

“None of your business.  Go back to the party.” Draco tried to wrench his arm free but was unsuccessful.

“I’ve already tried all the good foods,” Harry shrugged, “nothing worth staying for.”

“Should I be glad I’m worth your precious time then?” Draco sneered mockingly. “How honored.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Harry retorted, “It’s just having someone to fight with is better than being utterly bored.”

“Ah of course.  Famous Harry Potter has the whole world loving and agreeing with him, no wonder he’s bored.  Forgive me for not thinking of this earlier since my life is exactly the opposite of this.” Draco said coldly.

Harry wondered how someone could bring out his sympathy and annoyance both so much at the same time.  Though his patience was quickly thinning down, one look at the proud yet hurt Draco reminded him why he should remain patient.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Draco saw Blaise and Hermione walking towards him.  On a sudden impulse to piss Blaise off as some sort of revenge, Draco disapparated on the spot, temporarily forgotten who was grabbing his arm.

“Oh shit,” Draco groaned as he and Harry landed in a small pub in Diagon Alley, “Can you apparate yourself back, Potter?”

Harry ignored his request and called over at the bartender, “Two fire-whiskeys please.”  Then he sat down beside Draco.

Draco glared at Harry, but this time with less menace and more tiredness.  Harry steadily met his gaze, looking directly into the pain-filled stormy grey eyes.  Neither of them said a word.

The bartender brought the fire-whiskeys over and set them on the table.  Draco picked one up and said gruffly, “Thanks for the fire-whiskey, Potter.”  Harry simply nodded.

After an awkward silence of nearly five minutes, Harry broke the silence. “Listen, about what Rita Skeeter said back there –”

“Did you came here to be judgemental too, Potter?” Draco cut across him with a coarse voice. “Do you have any fucking idea what I went through at that time?  Do you know I don’t really have any choice, growing up in a family like that, with a madman staying at my house in my teenage years?”

“Look, Malfoy, I understand,” Harry said, and continued after Draco raised a disbelieving eyebrow, “um, part of it, anyway.  Of course I never grew up like that, but I understand it’s all about survival.  You didn’t have a lot of choices.  It’s not your fault.  But you didn’t need to be a bully during the school years either.  You didn’t need to call Hermione a mudblood and –”

“—Well, I was brought up that way!  Of course I know its stupid bigotry now, but –”

“It’s not something she had a choice over either!  It’s not her fault that she’s born with muggle parents!”

“I was young.  I didn’t grow up in an exactly mental-healthy family, Potter.” Draco said quietly.

“I know.  And I understand too.  Did you think that _I_ did?” Harry said softly. “But you should realize too that the people that suffered because of you, they didn’t deserved that either.  Just because you didn’t have a choice, doesn’t mean they should easily forget and forgive.  Just because you didn’t have a choice, doesn’t mean they weren’t _hurt_.  You could at least be sorry about it –”

“And what makes you think I’m not?” Draco said in a low and bitter voice. “I’ve apologized for so many times after the war.  I’ve tried to help the rebuilt after the war in my own ways.  I don’t fight back when people brought up the war, because I know I deserve it.  What makes you think I’m _not sorry_ about it?”

“I, uh,” Harry stammered.

“Because I’m a Slytherin?  Because I’m Draco Malfoy?” Draco laughed hollowly. 

Harry sighed. “That came out wrong, I apologize.”

Draco said nothing.  Finishing his fire-whiskey, he stood up slowly and nodded at Harry. “Thanks for the fire-whiskey again.  I’m leaving now.”

This time, before Harry could stop him or grab his arm, Draco apparated away.  Harry let out another sigh before beckoning the bartender over to order another drink.

-TBC-


	4. When Everyone Got Angry at Blaise

Hermione was fuming.  When she went to ask Slughorn about Rita Skeeter’s presence at the party, Slughorn had been surprised and said he thought she knew since it had been Blaise’s idea.  When they were back at Blaise’s flat later that day, she immediately confronted him about this piece of information.

“I see you’ve talked to Slughorn,” Blaise replied calmly.

“You’re not even trying to deny it!” Hermione said crossly.

“Would you rather I lie to you?” Blaise raised an eyebrow at her.

“Well, you already did!” Hermione said angrily. “When pretended not to know what Skeeter was doing at the party.”

“If I recall correctly, I merely asked a question of what she was doing there.  I asked a question that I already knew the answer, but I didn’t downright lied.”

“And you said you thought no journalists were allowed!”

“No journalists are allowed unless by invitation of Slughorn, and Slughorn did invited her.  I just left out part of the information.  That’s not lying.”

“Slughorn invited her because you asked him to!”

“Well, yeah.  I won’t deny that.” Blaise tilted his head slightly.  “Look, I need to give them a mutual enemy.  Isn’t there a saying of something like an enemy’s enemy is your friend?  They need something to bond over or they’d just fight with each other.  And they needed to talk about their past before they can move on to being friends or something more.  Rita would provide the … spark for them to talk about it by mentioning Draco’s past.”

“So you don’t mind your best friend being hurt by the process?  By she mentioning the war stuff?” Hermione snapped.

“He has to face it and talk about it someday.  It’ll hurt but it’s the only way to move on.  It’s not like I want him to hurt either, but it’s the only way, Mione.” Blaise said, still remaining calm.

“And what if she prints things on the newspaper—”

“You’ve said before you got something you can blackmail her.” Blaise shrugged. “So I thought that wouldn’t be the problem.”

“You should at least discuss it with me!”

“Would you approve?”

“Maybe not, but there’s obviously a good reason to that!”

“Exactly why I didn’t discuss it with you.  I figure you won’t consent the Slytherin way of doing things.  But I think for achieving our goal, this is an acceptable means.”

Hermione glared at Blaise furiously but couldn’t find any retort.  She understood his motives for most part but still had difficulty in just accepting all this.  Then Blaise said in a softer tone, “Look, I’m sorry.  But trust me, this will pay out in the end.”

Hermione huffed, “Well, I’m going home.  See you tomorrow for dinner at Leaky Cauldron.”

Before she stepped through the fireplace, Blaise pulled her into a gentle hug and whispered the apology again.  She didn’t reply but didn’t pull away from him either.  A few moments later, she said quietly, “I really have to go.  I have a meeting tomorrow at 9 in the morning.”

He nodded and slowly let go of her.  Pressing a chaste kiss to her lips, he took a step backwards and watched her disappear into the fireplace.

 

* * *

 

After the meeting in the morning, Hermione went back to her office and found a tired Harry waiting for her.  He looked like he was suffering from overdrinking.

“Harry, are you alright?” She asked, concerned. “Did you drink too much last night at the party?”

“Not at the party,” Harry replied weakly. “Some pub in Diagon Alley.”

“So ... you went there with Malfoy?” Hermione asked tentatively, wondering what might’ve happened.  Perhaps Blaise’s plan, however she disapproved, worked in some way after all.

“At first, yeah, but he soon left,” Harry explained, “We sort of argued about something … then he left.  With nothing better to do, I decided to drink myself stupid.”

 _Apparently Blaise’s plan isn’t working so well after all,_ Hermione thought grimly.  _Someone’s got something to answer to tonight._

“And I’m really pissed off at your boyfriend,” Harry continued, not aware of Hermione’s thoughts.

“Join the club,” Hermione muttered under her breath.

“He doesn’t seem to be caring about Malfoy at all!  His best friend was bombarded by a stupid reporter, he should at least go and show some moral support!  I mean I know his your date, but he couldn’t even spare a few minutes?” Harry ranted.

 _Wait, is Harry actually expressing his concern for Malfoy out loud?  Perhaps the plan isn’t completely useless then …,_ Hermione thought to herself.

“And what did you mean by ‘join the club’?” Harry asked curiously, “He did spent the party with you, didn’t he?  Or did that prat went to find some other girl –”

“Nothing like that,” Hermione was quick to assure Harry of this. “It’s … other stuff.  Nothing important.” She hesitated.  It was probably not the best idea to let Harry know Blaise had invited Rita.

“Alright,” Harry seemed to have too many troubles himself to press Hermione on the matter.

 

* * *

 

Draco sank into the comfortable sofa in his office.  Double first-years-potion in the morning had always been quite irritating and full of exploding cauldrons.  At he rested on the sofa, he found himself thinking of last night.  Especially about Potter and his words on the war.  _I guess Potter had some point after all … I didn’t have a choice but neither did the people that suffered because of me…_

His thoughts were interrupted with someone stepping out of his fireplace.  Blaise, wearing a concerned expression, walked over, holding the spaghetti bought from a restaurant Draco always loved near St. Mungo’s.

“Hey, I bought you some lunch,” Blaise said softly as he sat down beside Draco.

“Finally remember your best friend’s existence?” Draco sneered, holding himself up to sit more upright.

“I wouldn’t say finally, as you’ve always been on my mind,” Blaise replied calmly, handing Draco the spaghetti.

For a moment Draco wanted to throw the spaghetti back at Blaise, but decided it would be too much a waste of delicious food.  He grudgingly accepted instead.

“Did you even spare me a thought last night at the party’s?  All you did was ask Potter to bother me and you go on enjoying your date with Granger.  Was she traumatized by a nasty reporter bitch too?  No.  But I was.”

“I asked Potter to check on you because I hope you two could use this chance to talk and maybe bond over.” Blaise shrugged, “It’ll give you two a chance.”

“Yeah right.  It must be the _only_ reason.  I’m sure it’s got _nothing_ to do with the fact that you just want to snog Granger senseless the whole party.” Draco said sarcastically.

“I’ll always wanted to snog Hermione senseless, but that’s beside the point here.  You’re important to me.  You’re my best friend.” Blaise said softly, “I wanted to go accompany and comfort you myself.  It’s only because this way it’ll give you and Potter a chance to chat and become … friends that I stayed out of the way.”

“Are you actually saying if this is not the case, you’d given up your party time and come to see if I was okay?  Or that Granger would let you do so?” Draco sneered, clearly not believing Blaise.

“Stop dragging Hermione into this, Draco.  She’s not the jealous type you’re making it sounded like.  She’s quite independent and has her own circle of friends.  She’ll understand when I want to check if you’re alright.” Blaise snapped. “And for your information, yes I would’ve done so.”

“Easy for you to say since I can’t prove otherwise now it’s all past,” Draco snapped back.

“Draco, I’m really sorry,” Blaise sighed and felt like he was apologizing a lot today. “I swear it’s the only reason I didn’t go check on you last night.  You’re my best friend, of course I care about you.”

Draco huffed, but knew he believed Blaise anyway.  They’d been friends since childhood and he was sure Blaise cared about him a lot.  But that didn’t mean he couldn’t be upset about last night, right?  After all, that Skeeter woman was a real nightmare.

“Well, treat me 10 more Spaghettis from Steve’s Kitchen and I’ll consider you forgiven,” Draco said haughtily. 

Blaise smiled and knew that he had won. “Of course, Mr. Malfoy.  Anything you say.”

 

* * *

 

Later that day, Draco apparated himself to the front door of the Nott Manor and knocked.  He had been invited by Theo earlier to discuss some investments.  He waited for a minute until a house-elf opened the door for him.

“Mr. Malfoy!  Please do come in.  Mr. and Mrs. Nott are waiting for you,” squeaked the house-elf.  He brought Draco into the sitting room and announced his arrival.

“Draco!” Pansy said, “It’s been quite a while, hasn’t it.  Gods, you look a bit tired.  First-year’s classes today?”

“Yeah,” Draco smiled tiredly, “hey Pansy, hey Theo.”

“Draco, mate,” Theo greeted him. “How have you been recently?”

“A little bit worse than usual, but nothing I can’t handle,” Draco replied, hoping he could convince himself this was true.

Pansy and Theo exchanged at glance at the tiredness and uncertainty of Draco’s voice.

“What’s wrong, mate?” Theo asked, concerned.

“Well, stupid Blaise is trying to get me and Potter together.  It’s he and Granger’s newest hobby.  So far his plan had been to get me and Potter to both attend the party Slughorn hosted last night, and when I got upset over something he used that as a chance to get Potter to comfort me.” Draco sighed.

“What?!” Pansy thundered, looking extremely furious.

“My sentiments exactly,” Draco muttered.

“I’m going to kill him!” Pansy said loudly.

“—Get in line—” Draco interjected.

“He’s planning this _without_ me?  How dare him!  I should be able to help too!”

“What?” Draco groaned. “Wait, Pansy, no—”

“Excuse me, gentlemen,” Pansy said firmly, “You go on and discuss the investments.  Meanwhile, I’m going to go find Blaise and let him know keeping me out of plans like this is definitely _not_ a good idea.”

With that, she gave Theo a quick kiss and left.  Draco stared disbelievingly at her back and wondered what the hell had he just gotten himself into. “Theo, please tell me I’m having hallucinations.  I did not just get Pansy into Blaise’s plan of marrying me to Potter, right?  Tell me I did not.” He pled.

“I’m afraid that’s exactly what just happened, mate,” Theo smirked.

 

* * *

 

“Blaise Zabini!” Pansy pounded on the door of Blaise’s flat. “Let me in this instant!”

Seconds later, the door opened. “Pansy, what had my flat’s door done to you?” Blaise asked drily.  He and Hermione had just gotten back from dinner not long ago, and he certainly didn’t expect a visit from Pansy.

Pansy didn’t reply to this.  Instead she pushed her away into the flat and found herself a comfortable chair to sit.  She nodded at Hermione, “Hi Granger.”

“Parkinson,” she nodded back, looking wary.

“Its Mrs. Nott,” Pansy corrected her.

“It’ll take a little getting used to,” Hermione sighed.

“For Merlin’s sake, I’ve been married for 13 years!” Pansy exclaimed.

“Habits from Hogwarts times die hard,” Hermione shrugged, “No matter how many years you’ve been married, you’ll always be Parkinson to me.”

“Fine,” Pansy said impatiently, “It doesn’t matter.  I’ve got more important things to discuss.  I want to help with whatever that plan of yours of getting Draco and Potter together.”

“Always straight to the point,” Blaise chuckled. “Draco told you?”

“Yeah, and he didn’t sound very happy about it.  I guess you must’ve been doing it all wrong.” Pansy said smugly. “Lucky for you, that’s what I’m here for.  Now spill the plans and I’ll see how I can fix them!”

 

* * *

 

Daisy Nott frowned and read the letter from her mother again.  She accepted long ago that for a traditional, pureblood, without-a-job married lady like her mom, socializing and gossips are must-need.  For an ex-Slytherin girl, her mother was also forever and always scheming.  However, unlike men, these type of women’s schemes’ usually revolved with someone else’s love life.  She wondered if this was no different this time as she read the letter again.

“Scorpius, Albus,” she raised her head to look at her best friends, “Mom’s inviting you to the Nott Manor for Christmas holidays.  And she … asked me to tell you two that you can both bring your fathers.  Wait, scratch that.  What she means is that you _have to_ bring your fathers.”

“Have to?” Scorpius questioned, furrowing his eyebrows. “What did you mean by ‘have to’, Daisy?”

“By ‘have to’ I mean she threatened to cut my allowance for 2 months if your fathers are not coming.  And since I want to buy that new broomstick polishing package that’s coming out next week, I’m not going to let that happen.” Daisy said smoothly. “So, if your fathers weren’t there, I’ll make you two pay for the package.”

“I wonder what Aunt Pansy is planning this time,” Albus sighed, “It couldn’t just be that she think dad’s gonna be all lonely for Christmas right with me gone right?  I mean, if your mom’s a Hufflepuff, I’d believe that.  But since she’s a Slytherin …”

“…there’s definitely something more going on,” Scorpius agreed.  They all knew about the Slytherin house traits well. “I guess it wouldn’t be hard to convince dad to come, since he’s friends with your parents.  But as for Al’s dad …”

“I’ll beg and say I want to be with him during Christmas, that’s easy.” Albus shrugged.

“Then maybe he won’t even let you come,” Scorpius pointed out. “He might say that Christmas is a time for families rather than friends.”

“We’ve always spent Christmas at the Burrow before,” Albus said quietly. “But I’m guessing Dad’s not going there this year.”

The two other two exchanged a glance at Albus’s words.  Then Daisy said, “maybe he’ll feel more comfortable with another one of his friends there too?”

“Who –” Albus began to ask but suddenly stopped tracks, “Aunt Hermione!  Your mom invited him and uncle Blaise too?”

“Didn’t say about that in her letter, but she probably did,” Daisy smirked, looking pleased that she was the first to think of this idea, “if not, it won’t take much convincing either.  Or so I hope.”

-TBC-


	5. Christmas Eve at Nott Manor

Harry had to admit, he felt a bit hurt when Albus first said that he wanted to spend the Christmas vacation at Nott Manor.  But then he thought that his teenage son probably found it pretty boring to be stuck with his dad at 12 Grimmauld Place, since they likely wouldn’t be visiting the Burrow’s this year.  He believed a more excited place with holiday atmosphere might be better for his son.  So, ignoring his heart aching slightly, he agreed.

“Thanks, Dad,” Albus smiled overly brightly, “And Daisy invited you, too.  We’ll have a great time there.”

Harry choked on his pumpkin juice. “Me? Um … Al, that’s very nice of her, I appreciate it.  But … I don’t think her parents will agree with this.   I’m not exactly familiar with them.”

 _Dad, you have no idea this was her mom’s idea,_ Albus thought. “I’m pretty sure they agree whole-heartedly,” he assured his dad. “C’mon, Dad, I can’t let you be alone in this house for Christmas!”

Harry looked quite touched by this and since he didn’t want to let Albus down, he said, “Alright, then.  I’ll go with you.”

“That’s awesome, Dad!” Albus beamed.

Harry gave his son a small smile too, but he couldn’t help worrying inwardly about visiting the Slytherins.  Then he suddenly thought of something, “Who else was invited?  Your other friends and their parents?”

“Oh, Scorpius and his dad, and Uncle Blaise and Aunt Hermione.”

Harry let out a sigh of relief when he heard that Hermione would also be there.  Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad after all.  Then another thought struck him, “Scorpius?  As in … Scorpius Malfoy?”

“Yeah Dad, I told you he’s my best friend,” Albus nodded.

 _Oh, this is just great._ Harry started wondering again if his decision was okay after all.

 

* * *

 

The Malfoys had flooed themselves to the Nott Manor early in the morning of 24th, and the Potters arrived not long after.  Blaise and Hermione showed up the latest, arriving in the afternoon.

“Uncle Blaise, how come you got here so late!” Daisy demanded, pretending to be angry.

“Your aunt Hermione and I need a little kids-free time,” Blaise answered with mock seriousness, “since we’d be spending the holidays with 3 teenagers around.  It’s going to be a nightmare.”

“Hey!” Albus and Scorpius both protested at the same time.

“You’re one to talk,” Draco smirked, walking into the living room to meet the newcomers, “Sometimes I think you’re exactly like when we’ve been teenagers at Hogwarts, Blaise.  Probably because you haven’t grown up in the least bit?”

“Nice to see you, too, Draco,” Blaise rolled his eyes. “And you know, it’s probably because I, unlike you, have always been mature.”

“I’m quite mature!” said Draco indignantly.

“What, is this joke exchanging time?” asked Harry, who just stepped into the living room.

Draco was about to snap and say something vicious like, “No wonder you have to show up, since you’re the biggest joke around.”  Blaise noticed Draco’s growing temper and quickly step in. “No, or you’d probably heard someone praising your hair, Potter,” he said smoothly, and at the same time put his hand onto Draco’s arm warningly.

 _Tension diffused,_ Hermione watched the exchange and thought in relief.  Then she said, “Hey, Harry, would you like to go walk with me in the gardens?  We could do some Gryffindor bonding time.”

Harry quickly jumped at the idea to escape the house filled with Slytherins. “Sure, Hermione.”

Draco’s temper calm down quickly after Harry and Hermione went out to the gardens.  He cast a glance at his son and Harry Potter’s son, reminding himself he shouldn’t lost his calm in front of their sons.  Deciding he needed to distract himself, Draco said, “Play the wizarding chess with me, Blaise?”

 

* * *

 

Pansy stood in front of a huge Christmas tree, waving her wand to decorate it.   Draping a long, glittering silver scarf around the tree, adding bright green and silver balls here and there, conjuring some fake snow …

“Mom, you might want to add some red and gold to the tree, too,” Daisy appeared beside her, “I think the guests would like it.”

“Red and gold? No way!” Pansy frowned.

“Come on, Mother, those are Christmas colors,” Daisy rolled her eyes. “It won’t kill you.”

“Fine,” Pansy said grudgingly.

Daisy grinned and added some red and gold decorations to the tree.  A few minutes later, she stepped backward to fully enjoy the sight of her work.  She flashed a smile at her mom, “Doesn’t it look more colorful now, Mother?”

“Well, you added two more colors, so it’s probably natural consequences,” Pansy pointed out.

 

* * *

 

It was pretty cold outside in the garden but the snow-covered scenery was quite beautiful.  Harry and Hermione strolled along the small road in the garden.

“You said you had an argument with Malfoy the last time at bar, after Slughorn’s party,” Hermione said, “Maybe you guys can try to talk about it and fix it?  It’s your chance now since you get to spend the holidays together.”

“Maybe,” Harry sighed. “Sometimes when I met him I just felt like arguing.  He and I rarely do anything else.  I don’t know why.”

“So … can I ask what you two argued about last time?” Hermione asked tentatively.

Harry’s mind raced back to that night.  Draco’s pain and confession. “Um, some war stuff.”

For a moment Hermione found herself wanting to hex Rita Skeeter, then on second thoughts she reminded herself she should probably hex Blaise for this.

“I sort of … offended him,” Harry admitted. “I should’ve realized that he was sorry for the past.  I misunderstood him quite a lot before.”

Hermione widened her eyes, not expecting this.  _Probably no need to hex Blaise after all._ “Maybe you should try apologizing again and try to understand him more from now on,” she suggested. “You know, Slytherins aren’t that bad.  I was pretty biased about them before, too.  Even after knowing about Snape.  But they’re … just normal wizards and witches, too.  Just more cunning and that sort.”

Harry grinned, “Well, my own son was sorted into Slytherin.  Hell, I was nearly sorted there myself.  Maybe I’m not biased about Slytherins, just about Malfoy.”

“Well, yeah, Malfoy was quite a git back in school.” Hermione agreed, “But I think he’s changed a lot from then, too.  I think I only started to know him and other Slytherins better after Blaise and I got together.”

Somehow, Harry found himself a little envious that Hermione and Blaise had the chance to overcome house rivalry and understand each other.

Then they saw two figures walking towards them in the snow, both wearing expensive-looking overcoats, one dark green and one silver.  Draco and Blaise stopped in front of them.

“I know Gryffindors are supposed to be brave, but do you two have to stay in the snow for so long?  It’s freezing out here,” Draco said, his hands tucked inside the pockets of the coat.

“The air’s refreshing,” Harry shot back, “Can’t the Slytherins stand a little cold weather?”

“Of course we can, I’ll leave Draco here to prove it to you,” Blaise smirked. “But I’m taking Hermione inside now.  Can’t let you freeze my girlfriend, can I?”

Blaise took off his scarf and put it on Hermione.  Then he took her hands to head back to the house, “C’mon, let’s get back, love.”

Draco seethed.  He had just agreed to come with Blaise to convince the Gryffindors to get inside, how dare Blaise leave him out here in the cold with Potter?  Feeling pissed off, he decided to head back inside, too.

Then of course that idiot Gryffindor had to stop him.

“Malfoy,” Harry grabbed Draco’s hand, “I’d like to stay out here a little longer.  The scenery’s beautiful.”

“Well, no one’s making you go inside,” Draco said, “Stay here all you want.  But I’m going back in.  Let go of me, Potter.”

“But I want to talk to you,” Harry pled.

“Well then, by all means, talk,” Draco snapped, folding his arms across his chest.

“About last time at the bar … I’m sorry about what I said,” Harry said sincerely, looking Draco in the eyes.  The grey stormy eyes met the emerald green ones.  Draco felt some emotions flickered across him.

“I guess we didn’t really … know each other before,” Harry continued, “um … if … if you’re okay with it, maybe we can start to … try to get to understand each other better.  I’m thinking we probably had a lot of biased misunderstandings in the past.”

Draco gazed intently at Harry for a moment.  This, was what he always wanted, right?  The friendship he’d be vying for since eleven.  If he’d pushed this away out of arrogance or vengeance or stupidity … he’d probably regret it later.

“Let’s start anew then, Potter,” he replied, “but why don’t we go inside first?  It’s really cold out here.”

Harry gave him a small smile and nodded, “Of course.  Oh but if we’re to start anew …” Harry hesitated for a moment, then shot out his hand, “Harry Potter.  Nice to meet you.”

Draco smiled back softly, pulling his hand out of the pockets of the coat and gently hold onto Harry’s, “Draco Malfoy.  Pleasure.”

The two looked at each other awkwardly for a moment, then Harry said, “Well, let’s get back?”  He started pulling Draco towards the house.

Draco felt the words, “You forgot to let go of my hand, Potter,” stuck inside his throat.  He swallowed them back before he said it out loud.  It was somehow … nice to feel Potter’s hand.

When Harry pushed opened the door and got inside, all eyes in the living room fell upon them.  Or, to be more precise, they all fell on Draco and Harry’s hands.  Theo fought back a snigger, Hermione quirked a surprised eyebrow, Blaise looked smug, Pansy’s eyes shone with excitement, and the kids all had the mixture of a surprised look and an “I guess I should saw this one coming” look. 

Draco felt himself blushing slightly.  He told himself firmly this was probably just because the sudden warmness from entering the house. “Potter, my hand,” he whispered urgently, reminding Harry that they were still hand in hand.

Harry seemed to suddenly realize he had been holding onto Draco’s hands longer than necessary.  “Oh, yeah, sorry,” he said nervously, quickly letting go of Draco’s hand.

“My, my, that was fast, wasn’t it?” Blaise drawled, sounding highly amused.

“You mean from you leaving me in the cold to our getting back here?” Draco shot back, pretending not to know what Blaise really meant.

“You seem to survive the cold pretty well,” Blaise flashed a charming grin, looking totally unremorseful.  Draco gave Blaise a “you’re dead” look.

Meanwhile, Harry stood there, feeling embarrassed, wondering why he forgot to let go of Draco’s hand and why it felt so soft. “I, uh, should go back and change some clothes.  These ones are soaked in the snow.”

“I just look through your wardrobe earlier, Potter,” Pansy stopped him, “Really, those clothes are just so out of fashion.  Draco, I think you should lend him some clothes so he can look presentable for tonight’s dinner.”

“I thought we’re just eating at the manor,” Harry frowned.

“We are, but I’m still going to ask you all to dress nicely and fashionably,” Pansy said triumphantly, “I’m the hostess, so my word’s final.”

“I’ve got a feeling you just wanted to dress me looking all silver and green,” Harry muttered.

“What’s wrong with silver and green?” Pansy demanded.

“Nothing,” Draco quickly cut through. “Let’s go then Potter, I’ll show you some of my robes.  Don’t want to irritate the hostess, do we?”

Harry sighed.  He looked around the room and found Hermione still wearing Blaise’s silver scarf and smiling at him encouragingly.  _Well, might as well humor the Slytherins.  I’m guest here, anyway._ He decided to give in and followed Draco to his room.

The moment Harry and Draco stepped out, Hermione took off the silver scarf. “Finally,” she said, “it’s so hot to have to wear a scarf inside a warm house.  At least they came back quickly.”

“Well, you seem to have convinced Potter successfully,” Blaise said cheerfully. “Actions do speak louder than words, huh?”

“Did you see them holding hands when they got in?” Pansy asked excitedly. “That was brilliant.”

The kids exchanged another wary glance, trying to figure the adults out.

“Real fast development,” Hermione agreed, laughing, “I wondered what happened back there.”

“Somehow, I have a feeling the real story was actually less exciting than you girls are imagining it,” Theo commented, smirking slightly. 

His wife completely ignored this.  “Well, I’ve already arranged for them to sit together at dinner,” she announced brightly.

“Why are you all … suddenly doing this?” Scorpius cut in. “Are you guys planning what we think you’re planning?”

“Being observant Slytherins, I think you should figure this out yourselves,” Blaise winked at his godson.

“Does this have to do with the conversation we had in Hogsmeade?” Albus inquired.

“Very good, kids, very good,” Blaise laughed.

 

* * *

 

Harry stared in the guest room for Draco.  There were two big wardrobes filled with all sorts of clothings. “Malfoy … we’re just here for the Christmas holiday.  Do you have to bring all of your clothes over?”

“All of my clothes?” Draco repeated. “ _All of my clothes?_   Of course I didn’t.  What makes you think I’ve got only these few clothes?”

“Alright,” Harry sighed. _Slytherin royalty. He probably got 20 wardrobes back home._

Harry peeked into the wardrobe on the left while Draco rummaged through the one at the right.  “Malfoy, you’ve got … muggle clothings!” He choked out, gasping in surprise.

Draco rolled his eyes. “Any problem with that, Potter?  They’re convenient.”

“Um, right,” Harry stammered.  He walked over to the other wardrobe that Draco’s picking out clothes from.  It was really organized; high quality shirts, trousers, suits, robes.

Draco picked out five different shirts that all screamed Slytherin style for Harry to try on.  Harry protested weakly but ended up complying.  “I’ll take these up to my room and try them on –”

“Why can’t you change here?” Draco raise an eyebrow at Harry. “Don’t worry, Potter.  I’ll make sure Pansy and Granger won’t come barging in.  It’s easier for you to try here anyway, I can give you suggestions.”

Again, Harry found himself relenting.  Hesitatingly, he took off his shirt.

Draco drew a deep breath.  After taking the coat and shirt off, Harry’s muscles were quite visible.  Like a well-trained quidditich player.  “I thought you’re too busy to play quidditch these days, Potter,” he commented.

“What?” Harry asked, sounding confused.  Then he blushed, “I, uh, yeah.  But I’ve got auror trainings.”  He quickly put the first shirt on.

Draco nodded absently. _Damn, Potter is fit.  Really fit._

“Been a while since I last played,” Harry continued. “What about you?”

“Quite some time, too,” Draco replied. “A few years ago I believe.  I was showing the new Slytherin seeker some moves.”

Harry looked quite surprise at this, but didn’t comment on it.  Instead, he said, “I miss flying.”

“Yeah, me too.  I miss catching the snitch before you,” Draco teased.

“You can’t miss something that never really happened,” Harry sniggered.

“You’ve got quite some memory loss, Potter,” Draco retorted. “This one looks good on you, but you need to try them all to be sure.”

Harry sighed and took off the shirt and tried another.

“This one’s okay, but nothing special,” Draco commented, then tossed Harry the third shirt.

“Wish I could go flying,” Harry suddenly said. “Hey, maybe we could do so.  Isn’t there still some time before dinner?”

“And we’re using that time to fix you something to wear!  Besides, it’s snowing outside, Potter.  In case you haven’t noticed.”

“Just a little snow, no big deal,” Harry shrugged.

“This is just a little snow?” Draco asked, sounding incredulous. “Potter, are you out of your mind, or just a typical Gryffindor?”

“Alright, alright,” Harry said, “maybe we can wait and see if the snow’s smaller tomorrow.”

 

* * *

 

Harry showed up at dinner with Draco’s green silk shirt and dark leather pants and an expensive looking dragon-hide jacket.  Pansy nodded approvingly at his appearance. “Now that’s better, Potter.  Maybe you should let Draco take you shopping some time.”

“There’s really no need,” Harry frowned, “I don’t need to look fashionable to be an auror.”

“That’s no excuse, Potter,” Pansy scolded, “You know, maybe you two should go tomorrow.  They have Christmas sales.”

“We’re already planning to go flying tomorrow,” Harry said.

“What?!” Hermione gasped, “In this kind of weather?”

“That’s what I said to him, too,” Draco added.

“Sweet, you’re already planning things to do together,” Blaise smirked.  Draco punched him in the arm.

“Cool! We want to fly too!” Scorpius and Albus shouted at the same time.

“No, you’re not coming in this weather,” Harry frowned at them.

“Great example you’re setting the kids with, Potter,” Theo said drily, shaking his head.

“Doesn’t Uncle Draco have a private indoor pitch at the Malfoy Manor?” Daisy interrupted.

“You do?” Albus turned to Scorpius. “How come you never told me?”

“Okay, you kids can fly there,” Harry said. “But I’d like some outdoor air.”

“No, Harry!” Hermione protested.

“Potter, are you really out of your mind?” Pansy demanded.

“Flying in the snow sounds cool,” Scorpius said enthusiastically, “if you guys are flying outside, so are we, right?” Albus nodded vigorously while Daisy frowned.

“Although my pitch is indoor, it’s charmed to feel like outdoor in every sense,” Draco assured Harry, “you’ll get the fresh air you need.”

“Uh … alright, Malfoy.”

“I still think you should just go shopping,” Pansy complained.

“You should be grateful that no one’s flying outdoors,” Blaise told her.

The dinner was fancy with all kinds of meat and cuisines from different cultures.  They all enjoyed it quite a lot and felt really full afterwards.  After dinner, the kids went to play exploding snap and the two couples went to their separate rooms, leaving Draco and Harry alone with nothing to do.  Then Draco suggested, since they were going to get to understand each other, they could go to his room and chat.

Harry agreed.  So they asked the house-elves to bring some wine to Draco’s room and started talking about their life since Hogwarts.

Harry told Draco how he became an auror, how he failed some missions because everybody had some high expectations of The-Boy-Who-Lived and gave him more difficult tasks; Draco spoke about how he cope with the stress and blame after war and how McGonagall offered the potions professor position to him.  They each discovered quite a few surprising things about the other during the process.

-TBC-


	6. Christmas Flying and the Snow Fight

Despite the protest from the hostess Pansy, the others decided to go to Malfoy Manor on Christmas Day to fly at the indoor pitch.  The kids were all excited; they had been in high spirits since the presents were opened this morning.

Draco was surprised to find Harry bought him a gift.  A quidditch game ticket for a game between Chudley Cannons and Falmouth Falcons in February.  And a card that invited Draco to go with him.  That did sounded like the sort of gift Potter would give, Quidditch obsessed prat.  Nevertheless, he supposed it wouldn’t hurt to go.

He was glad Blaise and Pansy had pressured him into buying Potter a gift – a set of new fashion robes handpicked by Pansy – when he found out Potter had a gift for him.  He sent it along with a note that said, “ _You’ve still got a long way to go to achieve a moderate sense in fashion, Potter, but this is a start.  Oh, by the way, Merry Christmas.  DM_ ”

Hermione had initially came up with a list of things Harry liked and gave them to Draco, but the list was thrown out by her boyfriend insisting that if Draco chose any one of those gifts, Potter would be suspicious that she suggested – or made – Draco give him the gift.   Because Draco obviously did not know him well enough just yet.  Which Hermione argued back that the way they were planning, it could seemed like Draco was only forced by Pansy to give Harry the present.

Then Pansy retorted by saying that since she and Draco were both Slytherins, it made sense that they thought alike.  And with Draco’s sense of fashion, Harry wouldn’t think this wasn’t Draco’s own idea.

The argument ended with a startled Draco declaring that he definitely did _not_ think alike with Pansy and a very smug Pansy telling Draco that he definitely did.

 

* * *

 

The quidditch pitch at Malfoy Manor was not as big as the one in Hogwarts, but still managed to shock the first-time-visitors. 

“Wow… ” Albus gasped, his eyes flying around, trying to take all the views in at once.

“I’m not interested in flying,” Pansy complained. “We really should be shopping right now.”

“Ah, not interested in flying?” Blaise smirked, “Maybe you and Hermione can bond over this.”

“I’m not exactly interested in going shopping either,” Hermione protested quickly, causing Theo to chuckle.

“Shame, really,” Theo sighed dramatically, “I thought I’ve found someone who could go shopping with Pansy so I don’t have to go with her all the time.”

“You like shopping with me!” Pansy declared.  Theo merely shook his head fondly.

“Race you to the other end of the pitch, Potter!” Draco yelled at Harry and took off on his broom.

“Hey! That’s not fair, Malfoy!” Harry yelled back, kicking the ground and ascending into the air trying to catch up with Draco.

“Always so competitive, aren’t they?” Blaise smirked as he looked at his best friend affectionately.  The others nodded in agreement.  They could see the two were flying fast in the air, shooting towards the other end of the pitch.

“I never knew Father has this side,” Scorpius gazed into the air, sounding amazed.

“Uncle Draco does surely seemed more … lively than I’ve ever seen him,” Daisy commented.

“I think he’s usually cold and reserved because he wants to live up to Snape’s reputation,” Theo smirked. “The bat of dungeons and all that.  But it’s never really successful.  Snape is too talented in this aspect.”

The kids were all refusing to believe that, insisting that Professor Snape’s portrait treated them all nice and warm.  The adults just told them it was because they never managed to meet the alive Snape.

Blaise had offered to take Hermione on his broom and fly her around the pitch to look around the outer walls of the pitch that were decorated beautifully with charms to look like all sorts of outdoor sceneries.  Even though she was a little afraid of flying, he managed to convince her eventually.  The ride proved to be fascinating as she was awed by the magical sceneries and add the task of finding out how exactly this kind of magic work to her mental list of interesting subjects.

Draco, Harry, Theo, and their kids, had started a game of “Who can catch the most snitches”.  Draco had opened a box of 30 new snitches that were now flying around.  Pansy was reading her Witches Weekly and occasionally looking up with amusement.

The snitches seemed to be flying around faster than usual, and after half an hour there were still 15 snitches that hadn’t been caught.  Harry was currently in the lead with 5 snitches, Draco 4, Albus 2, and the rest of them each got one.  Daisy grumbled that this game gave the seekers an advantage over others.

Though not all snitches managed to be caught before noon, Pansy had put her foot down and insisted that they go back to the Nott Manor for lunch, which none of them dared to disobey.

Harry looked quite excited and cheerful as he turned out to get 2 more snitches in the end than Draco did, and Draco accused Harry of lying when he said he hadn’t flown in a long time.  The two bickered all their way through lunch while the others wondered why they still had so much energy after flying around all morning.

 

* * *

 

The afternoon started with Blaise reminiscing how he and Draco had snow fights when they were young and led to an evitable real snow fight, which they even managed to convince Pansy and Hermione to join in.

Draco and Harry of course refused to team up with each other due to their competing natures, so they became the leaders of two respective teams.  It started out like a traditional snow fight with just snowballs flying around but later they all turned creative.  Some had pulled out wands to carve the snowballs into something more angular before they aimed.  Some colored the snowballs so when a person got smashed by it, their face was full of color paint.  Due to the majority amount of Slytherins here, most of the snowballs got turned green or silver.  And the children managed to climb onto the trees and aimed the snowball downwards at the adults.

In the end, they all got so exhausted and agreed to go back for a bath and rest before dinner.  Harry groaned when Pansy reminded him that he needed to pick from Draco’s cloths for tonight’s dinner, too.

 

* * *

 

Draco was lying on his bed after bath when he heard someone knocked the door. “Come in,” he called, still with his eyes closed.

Harry cautiously pushed open the door.  Draco’s eyes flung open as he saw Harry come in, “I didn’t know why I need to use my resting time to dress up a Gryffindor,” he grumbled, “but when I saw you walking in wearing your clothes …” he sighed dramatically, “I instantly understood why I’m doing this.”

Harry blushed. “Well, sorry to waste your precious time,” he said, “I don’t want to do this either, but Parkinson made me.”

“Its Mrs. Nott or Pansy, Potter,” Draco corrected automatically.  Harry rolled his eyes and said, “yeah, whatever.”

“So, you don’t want to spend time with me,” Draco raised an eyebrow and said coldly. “Well, now I really need more reminder of why I’m doing all this –”

“No, Malfoy, er, Draco,” Harry hurried to explain, worrying if he offended Draco. “I don’t mind spending time with you, but I’d rather be doing other stuff than dressing up.  I don’t really care about appearances, you see.”

Draco softened a bit then smirked as he eyed Harry’s current clothing, “Yes, I can see that.  Well, since you don’t want to play dress up, then we’re definitely going to do it.” He grinned evilly.

Harry sighed, but decided he best just follow through this before he angered Draco again.  After a full hour with Draco fitting Harry with shirts after shirts and pants after pants, they finally settled for something.  When it ended, Harry gave a sigh of relief while Draco looked triumphant and eager to show his latest work – Harry – to others.

 

* * *

 

Dinner was as abundant as yesterday which led to a very serious Hermione questioning about the house-elves and a half-amused, half-irritated Theo who never heard of anyone caring about elf-rights and didn’t want Hermione to talk his elves into quitting.

Beside them, Blaise was entertaining the kids with stories from St. Mungo’s, exaggerating some parts where he had saved some patients from dangerous situations.  Draco rolled his eyes and told the kids not to believe everything their uncle said.

Pansy was giving her fashion advice to a non-listening Harry who was thinking about the Christmas holidays he always spent at the Burrow’s.  His mind flown to Ron and then go Ginny … when he surprisingly found that thinking about her didn’t hurt so much now.

“… And there was that time when I healed an old man with Rheumatism …”

“What’s Rheumatism, Uncle Blaise?” Albus questioned curiously.

“Blaise, stop using long-named diseases to make your story more impressive,” Draco rolled his eyes, snickering.

“Draco, why don’t you go save Potter from Pansy instead of ruining my stories?” Blaise scowled at him, and pushed him towards the direction of Harry before turning back to the 3 teenagers. “Okay, as I was saying …”

Draco smirked at Blaise before turning to see Pansy speaking vigorously and pointing to pictures on the fashion magazine.  Harry nodded once in a while but it wasn’t hard for Draco to notice that he wasn’t listening to a word she said.

“Really, Pansy,” Draco drawled, “you really shouldn’t waste your breath teaching someone with no fashion sense whatsoever.  Go and help Theo keep your house-elves from Granger’s influence.”

Harry shot Draco a grateful look while Pansy huffed and turned to Theo and Hermione.  “Ain’t I just your hero, Potter?” Draco smirked.

The corner of Harry’s mouth twitched slightly in amusement, “Well, thanks so much, hero.”

Draco’s grin got wider, “What were you thinking to tune her out when she badgered you with all those things you apparently weren’t listening?”

Harry’s face fell a little, but he didn’t say anything.  He knew Draco never liked the Weasleys much and he didn’t think they would be able to have a rational discussion concerning the Weasley family.  “Nothing in particular,” he replied.

“Is that so?” Draco raised an eyebrow. “Doesn’t look like nothing to me.”

“None of your business,” Harry snapped.

“C’mon, I thought I’m your hero,” Draco leant in towards Harry, “you should tell me.”

Harry looked annoyed.  “It’s … nothing, really.”

“Are you thinking about the Weasleys?” Draco asked shrewdly.  Harry looked startled and squinted at Draco.

Draco was just guessing, but Harry’s expression confirmed it for him. “Well, your hero’s pretty smart,” he smirked smugly.

“Don’t start saying anything insulting,” Harry said warningly.

“Am I the type?” Draco said, pretending to be hurt. “Maybe I was, but as we’ve sorted out recently, we’ve both changed, Potter.”

“Um … okay,” Harry said awkwardly, “it’s just … they’re like family to me.  I’ve always spent Christmas with them.”

“That wasn’t surprising.” Draco shrugged. “You didn’t plan to go there this year, did you?  I meant, before you were invited here.”

“No,” Harry admitted, “Ginny would be there, so I kind of figured that maybe it’s not best to go.”

“How did Weasley – Ron Weasley I mean, react to you and Granger coming?” Draco asked curiously.  He had been wanting to ask this since the start.

“He’s okay,” Harry hesitated, “Ron’s never been fond of Slytherins … but he understood Albus is and want to spend time with his school friends.  Well, I didn’t tell him you were coming though …”

“Ah, figures,” Draco smirked, “or he might just flip out.”

“Well, you two didn’t exactly have the best history,” Harry shrugged.

“Neither do you and I,” Draco pointed out.

“Yeah … I suppose,” Harry said awkwardly.  A part of him wanted to stop these awkward conversations with Draco and listen to Pansy ranting while he brooded, another part was amazed by the less-than-hostile atmosphere he didn’t expected.

He had to admit, Draco did rather changed a lot over the years.  He seemed … more mature.  Although he still had his sarcastic comments and sneering expression and Slytherin tendencies, he was a lot easier to be around with than when he was in Hogwarts.  Though he and Pansy fussing over clothing were still rather irritating for him.  But even Harry, someone with no fashion sense according to them, could see Draco was a good-looking.  Along with the pale complexion, shining blond hair, and grey eyes that seemed to have a lot of depth, he was rather attracting.

The house-elves interrupted his thoughts by serving the desserts.  The elves prepared different 4 flavors, vanilla, chocolate, and blueberry, and orange for them.

Draco was trying to steal a spoonful of the chocolate flavor from Theo when Pansy stopped him and told him to go to other people who was served chocolate flavor.  He turned around to find the only other person with chocolate flavor was Harry.  Scowling at Pansy, he returned to eat his blueberry ice-cream sourly.

Scorpius noticed this and turned to give Harry a sweet smile and asked, “Uncle Harry, Father would really like a spoonful of your chocolate ice-cream, please?”

Harry stuttered, “Um, sure, yeah,” as he pushed the bowl slightly towards Draco, feeling awkward.

Draco frowned at his son who was still wearing the sweet smile – how _Slytherin_ of him – and wondered how much the children knew about Blaise’s plan now.  Pansy looked triumphant, Theo and Blaise were smirking, and Hermione looked impressed with the Scorpius.  Albus and Daisy shared an amused glance.

Draco sighed, and dug a spoonful from Harry’s bowl, “Well, thanks, Potter.”

He reminded himself to ask Blaise later and find out who involved the kids into the plan.  Maybe adding that person to his to-kill list wouldn’t be a bad idea.

-TBC-


	7. The So-Called Analyzing Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As much as I love Draco and Harry, they won't make an appearance in this chapter and there won't be any Drarry developments. (Sorry about that, but I promise there will be in the next chapter!)  
> This chapter is rather short and basically just some chat/banter between Blaise, Hermione, Pansy, and Theo. Also there is a slight mention of Blaise and Hermione's kinks (no real scenes, just mentioned). If you do not wish to read that, you can skip this chapter and it won't affect your understanding on the whole story.

The next day, after Draco took the children back to Hogwarts and Harry was called away by Kingsley for some Auror business, the other four adults decided to have lunch together and drink some expensive wine.

“Okay, let’s analyze how the Christmas plan went,” Hermione said as she took a sip of the vintage wine Theo had dug up from the wine cellar of Nott Manor.

“Analyze. Wow. I see now why you are the top of our year,” Pansy commented wryly.

“I thought Slytherins do this as well, since you’re supposed to be cunning and good at plotting things,” Hermione shot back.

“Well, love,” Blaise drawled, “truth is, we’re too cunning and good at this that we rarely need to analyze it afterwards, because we just go with our nature.” He leant towards her and brushed her hair back her left ear.

Hermione rolled her eyes, “well, there’s always room for improvement.”

“Says the witch who always got straight O’s for every final exam,” Theo chuckled. “Well, let’s analyze then.  I thought the weekend went rather well, myself.”

“Except for the fact they didn’t go shopping together,” Pansy sighed. The other three ignored this.

“They’re on fairly civil terms – and maybe could even be seen as friendly sometimes – which I think is a huge improvement for past archenemy,” Blaise smirked, giving the glass of wine he was holding a small shake.

“Civility and friendliness don’t make a couple,” Hermione pointed out, “and Harry hasn’t been with a boy before, so it won’t be easy to make him realize his real feelings if they just continue the ‘civil and friendly’.”

“Time to spice things up a bit then?” Pansy said excitedly as she put down her glass and rubbed her hands, her eyes glinting.

“They’ll be busy because the holiday ended but I think they’re planning to go to the Cannons versus Falcon game together,” Blaise said, “should we arrange for them to meet some time before that?”

“I’m still wondering how Potter managed to get the 2 tickets to that game,” Theo suddenly said, “I heard people discussing its already sold out weeks ago.”

“Because I gave it to Hermione to give it to him,” Blaise grinned, “A patient of mine gave that to me as a gift, but I’m on duty that day and Hermione isn’t interested in Quidditch, so we decided to let Potter to put it to use.”

“I spent a lot of time convincing him to ask Ron to go with him though,” Hermione added, “kept telling him that if he went with him, Ron might try to get Ginny and him back together but it was impossible now and will only hurt more.”

“Good that you stopped him then,” Pansy said briskly. “The problem now is that we couldn’t be there to see their progress, since we don’t have the tickets.”

“If we really want them to be together, we shouldn’t keep sticking around them, Pansy,” Theo rolled his eyes. “Let them have some alone time. What we should do is maybe make a reservation at some expensive restaurant for them after the game ends, and threaten Draco they _have_ to go because I pulled a lot of strings to get the reservation and they’d better not wasted it.”

“Sounds good, and we can eat at maybe 3 tables away from them!” Pansy said enthusiastically.

“Didn’t you hear that I just said they need some alone time?” Theo rolled his eyes again.

“It’s not that they’ll notice!”

“Potter might not, but Draco’s damn sharp,” Blaise sided with Theo.

“Harry’s sharper than you give him credit for,” Hermione felt the need to defend her friend.

“Really?” Blaise challenged, “Come on, darling, be honest.” He smirked.

“Well … alright … maybe not.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Theo quickly interrupted, “we’re not going to be there anyway.”

Pansy pouted. “Fine, fine, we’re not going.  How about slipping Potter some love potion in the drinks though?”

“Absolutely not!” Hermione said sharply, “You’re not poisoning Harry!”

“Gryffindors and their moral ethics,” Pansy sneered.

“No, I had agree, it won’t work out long term,” Blaise said soothingly and gently put a hand on Hermione’s arm.

“I think I have to lay out some ground rules before we continue,” Hermione decided. When you deal with the Slytherins, apparently you needed specific rules rather than rely on their morals. “No poisoning, and no reporters.”

“Where did that one came from?” Theo asked, sounding interested, “No, wait, let me guess.  Blaise invited Skeeter to that party?”

Hermione scowled, “yeah, he did –”

“I did not,” Blaise feigned a look of innocence, “not directly anyway.  I asked Slughorn to invite her.  And you have to admit, it worked splendidly.”

“It could’ve gone wrong!” Hermione retorted, “And even it does, it’ll hurt them in the process.  The end does not always justify the means.”

“As a Slytherin, love, I beg to differ,” Blaise smirked, “we could use _any_ means to achieve the end we wanted.”

“Hear, hear,” Pansy said enthusiastically and raised her glass, “toast to Slytherin!” Theo smirked, casted Hermione an apologetic grin, and raised his glass too.

Hermione scowled at them, “Anyway, absolutely no reporters.  At least not without discussing me with me first.  Blaise, if I caught you planning something like that again –”

“—darling, I’m Slytherin. If I don’t want to be caught, I won’t,” an arrogant smirk climbed up his face.  Hermione wondered to herself why she had to date a _Slytherin_ , of all houses there were.

She glared at him, “Don’t interrupt me. If I caught you again, I’ll paddle you hard, is that understood?”

Theo gasped then fought back a snicker, looking extremely amused.  Pansy’s eyebrows disappeared into her hair and her eyes widened, “Granger, I’ve never pegged you as the kinky type.”

Blaise’s smirk turned into a teasing grin, “Is that a threat or promise, love?  Now I _do_ want to be caught.”

Hermione seemed to just realize what she had said, she flushed slightly then said exasperatedly. “Seriously, no reporters, Blaise. _Please._ ”

Blaise opened his mouth to say something but Theo was faster, “Granger, if you offer him another method to get paddled I’m sure he’ll agree to no reporters.” He and Blaise shared an amused chuckle. Hermione scowled at them.

Pansy looked at her husband and her longtime friend in disbelief, gave Hermione a hard stare, then huffed, “Well, I’m _so_ glad that we had this _analyzing_ meeting _after_ we sent the kids back to Hogwarts. Now, let’s get on with the topic, boys.”

“We’re not finished with this yet—”

“Granger, take you and Blaise’s kinky habits back to your bedroom to discuss, now—”

“For Merlin’s sake, that’s not what I mean!  I mean the subject about no reporters!”

“Alright, alright, no reporters,” Blaise held up his hands in surrender, “calm down, love.  Although I have to say, you’re _hot_ like that.” He grinned.

Pansy and Hermione rolled their eyes simultaneously while Theo looked like he wanted to say something that seconded Blaise’s words but changed his mind when he remembered his present company.

“Right, so no potions, no reporters,” Pansy said briskly, “now back to the expensive restaurant we’re talking about.  Anyone got any ideas? Draco loves Italian and French food, but does Potter have any preference?”

“I don’t think he did, really.  I do know that he loves treacle tarts.” Hermione frowned.

“That’s hardly helping,” Pansy said bluntly.

“Hey, do you guys know of that Quidditch themed restaurant where all waiters dressed like Quidditch celebrities?  I bet this is something that Potter’s going to interested in,” Theo said.

“I don’t think so,” Pansy rejected the idea, “I mean, the waiters are all sexy and hot, right?  They might get attracted to those waiters there instead of each other.  Totally not okay.”

“Ah, but the sparks of jealousy always works wonders!” Blaise exclaimed, “Didn’t you just said you want to spice things up a bit?  This is great, Theo.  Make the reservations!”

Both women had to concede that jealousy _did_ sometimes has its effect.

“Okay, anything else?” Theo asked. They all shook their head, “Well, I’m sure Blaise and Granger has some stuff they want to discuss privately,” he smirked suggestively, “so I’ll ask Reeky to pack your stuff and escort you two to the floo.  It was nice having you two over for the holidays.” He gave a slight mock bow and with summoned the house-elf.

-TBC-


	8. The Quidditch Game

_Hell, we are just going to see a Quidditch game together, why am I so nervous?_  Draco sighed, unable to ease his frustration.  He wore a casual outfit today, but it was actually carefully selected to make him extra attractive.  He didn’t know why he was doing this, as Potter already to show to have no fashion senses or whatsoever.

After instructing the Slytherin prefects to look after things, Draco used his floo to get back to the Malfoy Manor and apparated to the Quidditch stadium from there. 

Potter was already waiting around the entrance, holding two plastic bags that seemed to be drinks.  Draco approached him cautiously, telling himself to calm down.

“Potter,” he began, and Harry whirled around, “shall we go in?”

“Harry,” Potter corrected him, “I think we’re on friendly enough terms to address each other by first name now, won’t you agree?”

Draco was slightly taken aback.  _Well, two can play this game._ “Alright.  Only if you call me Draco.”

Potter – no, Harry – grinned, “Of course.  Let’s go inside then, Draco.  By the way, I brought us drinks.  It’s apple juice.”

Draco’s mind was reeling.  It couldn’t be … “Pot—Harry, who told you I like apple juice?” He asked cautiously.  _Please don’t say your son. Please just don’t._

“Zabini did,” Harry frowned, misunderstanding Draco’s expression, “um, did you not like it or something?  If he lied to me, I’ll ask Hermione to –”

“Oh, no, I mean, I like it.  I love apple-flavored stuff.  Just surprised that you know is all.” Draco said hastily and flashed a smile.

“Oh, that’s good then,” Harry looked relieved. “Well … let’s get inside.”

 

* * *

 

“Hi Harry, hi Malfoy,” a dreamy voice greeted them not long after they entered the stadium.

“Hi Luna,” Harry smiled at her.

“Lovegood,” Draco gave a stiff nod.  He still remembered that Luna Lovegood was one of the prisoners at the Malfoy Manor back in the war times … and they hadn’t had any chance to meet after that … unlike he and Granger had already met and reconciled since Granger was dating Blaise.

The war had been over for more than ten years, and there he was, still being haunted of memories of the darkest past from an encounter at Quidditch game.  Were those past ever going to leave him?

Draco envied the others.  He envied Potter – Harry and those who had been naturally on the Light Side.  They hadn’t had hard decisions to make to remain on that side.  He envied Blaise whose family had always remained neutral.  He envied Theo whose father hadn’t been as high ranking as his dad had been and avoided Voldemort’s attention.

He had been barely _seventeen_ at that time.  Why had it been _he_ who needed to face all of that?

“Draco, are you alright?” Harry’s concerned voice pulled him back into reality.

“Wrackspurt got you?” Luna asked sympathetically.

Harry smiled at little, remember how Luna had always been.  It was nice to see how she hadn’t changed after all these years.

“I’m fine,” Draco lied, managing a smile.  Harry still looked worried but didn’t press him. “So, Lovegood, you came to the game alone or?”

“Oh, I came to watch my boyfriend Lee commentate,” she explained, smiling. “Would you guys like to join me at the commentator booth?”

 

* * *

 

“My, my, Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy,” Lee Jordan raised his eyebrows in surprise, “it’s been a while, boys.  You two make me nostalgic.  Gone were the good old days that I could favorite Gryffindor in a match.  Professional Quidditch is awesome, but never the same as commentating at Hogwarts.  Never thought one day I’d realize McGonagall was actually quite tolerant of me.”

“ _We_ had been even more tolerant of you,” Draco couldn’t resist to say.  Harry threw Draco a reproachful look, but Draco didn’t care.  He knew what he said was true.  And he knew the Gryffindors knew it as well.

“That’s true,” Lee laughed, not offended. “So young, so prejudiced, weren’t we all?”

“I suppose,” Draco grudgingly agreed.  He knew that he hadn’t been the nicest to the other houses during those day either.

“I often wondered why McGonagall didn’t choose a commentator from each house.  Probably she wasn’t really as impartial as she looked.” Lee gave a smirk. “Or probably she likes me way too much.” He winked at them.

The others laughed and the mood lightened.  Draco was surprised to find the ex-Gryffindor who was friends with the Weasley twins less-than-hostile and quite cheerful.  Then again, they’d all grown up.

“So you missed being biased?” Harry joked.  Draco rolled his eyes and smirked.

“I guess it’s more like, missing how we could believe in ourselves so much.” Lee explained. “I mean, looking back, of course it’s easy to realize those house prejudices are wrong.  But, sometimes don’t you just wish that life _can_ be simple as black and white like in the children’s eyes?  Don’t you miss how easy when your biggest worry was just another house to hate rather than all those adult problems?  Even if you know those stuff were wrong now.”

“The choice between what’s easy and what’s right,” Luna chimed in. “When you start choosing what’s right rather than what’s easy, you grow up.”

“My little philosopher,” Lee smiled fondly at Luna.

 

* * *

 

Harry and Draco, being ex-seekers, spent quite a lot of time during the match making critical comments about the seekers’ movements.  They were a little surprised how alike their opinions were.

“Don’t you two have any other comments on other players?” Luna asked, amused.

“Well, the other players don’t really matter –” Draco began.

“—unless one team scores 15 more goals than the other,” Harry finished for him.  They grinned at each other, sharing the small joke between seekers.

“And that, boys, is the seeker’s bias,” Lee removed the megaphone from his mouth for a moment and smirked at them, waving his finger.

“Guilty as charged,” Draco shrugged nonchalantly, not bother denying.  Harry laughed. Draco found himself actually liking the sound of Harry’s laughter.

 

* * *

 

When the game ended, Harry met someone who he least wanted to meet at the moment.  His ex-wife Ginny Weasley and her current boyfriend Dean Thomas apparently also came to the match.  Draco narrowed his eyes when he saw the pair.  _What, is today the Hogwarts-old-classmates-reunion-day or what?_

“Harry!” Ginny looked surprised.

“Ginny, Dean,” Harry nodded curtly.

“Harry, did you come to the game with Malfoy?” Ginny asked incredulously.

“Yes, and that’s none of your business,” Harry said coolly, staring back at Ginny evenly.

The all felt as if the temperature suddenly dropped a few degrees. Ginny looked indignant as she opened her mouth, but Dean spoke quicker.  “Well, we had to go now, had a reservation at that new Quidditch-themed restaurant, see you guys around.”

Having said that, Dean quickly pulled Ginny away and left.

 _Wait, isn’t that the restaurant Theo said he made reservations for me?  Well, Theo and his reservations can go to hell, I’m not taking Harry to the same restaurant the Weaselette is going,_ Draco thought.

But the other restaurants were probably all full now during Saturday night.  And he had already promised Harry to eat dinner together earlier … well …

“Want to come to my place for dinner?” He asked, a little hesitant.

“The Malfoy Manor?” Harry questioned.

“No, my apartment in London,” Draco explained.

 

* * *

 

Harry had thought when Draco said they were eating together later, it would be some restaurant.  But he was quite pleased to actually visit Draco’s apartment.  He hadn’t thought they were _that_ close, but he was glad for the chance.

Talking Quidditch with Draco and meeting Lee today made him remember the old times when Gryffindor and Slytherin fought at Hogwarts.  God, he had been quite obsessed fighting with Draco at that time, hadn’t he?  The world, like Lee had said, had been quite black-and-white to him at that time.

It was so easy for Gryffindor and Slytherin to fight back in those days.  Inter-house rivalry bred intra-house fraternity.  He and Ron and Hermione all hated Draco back then.  Well, maybe not Ron and Hermione so much …

Harry realized he had actually been the one that had been most opposed to Draco.  Sure Ron and Hermione hadn’t liked Draco either, but neither of them had hated Draco as much as he had.  In a way, Draco had managed to bring out more emotions from him then he had brought out from others.

And, Draco had been the one to bring out Harry’s emotions the most.  More than anybody else, in fact.  The anger, the obsession with what dark plans he was scheming …

Those weren’t good emotions like happiness, but they had actually made him felt alive.  It was like … Draco Malfoy brought out the liveliness in him.

Now he came to think of it, Draco had always been a constant in his life during their school days.  Like Ron and Hermione, though in an archenemy way.  Nevertheless, he had been a huge part of his life.  Something that stayed the same, even if it had been rivalry back then.

After school, they rarely met.  His life was a typical, strained, adult life.  He missed how young he had once been, innocent and prejudiced and fighting for over stupid things – but he had felt so much more _alive_ back then.  He missed fighting with Draco Malfoy, the constant in his life – at least back in Hogwarts.  Life had been boring without Draco, grey in moral areas and fighting with his own emotions.  Lee was right.  He missed the old times.

Realization hit.  All these times he had led a less-than-thrilled, lack-of-liveliness adult life.  Gods, how he _missed_ having Draco Malfoy back in his life.  How he missed _obsessing_ over him …

Wait, _obsessing_?

“Zoning out?” Draco sounded amused. “We’re here now.”

Harry snapped back to reality, his eyes meeting the handsome ex-Slytherin blond standing before him.  He had indeed matured over the years, yet there were some parts of him that reminded Harry when they were both still teenagers.

As Draco led him into the apartment, Harry realized for the first time that he wanted Draco Malfoy so damn much …

“Galleon for your thoughts, Harry?” Draco cocked an eyebrow.

“You wouldn’t believe it …” Harry shook his head.  How could Draco possibly return his feelings?

Never the one to resist a challenge, Draco smirked, “try me.”

-TBC-


	9. The Confession

How could he tell Draco?  It would be too embarrassing, if Draco were to reject his feelings.  And of course he would.  It was highly unlikely that Draco could even return Harry’s feelings.  They had hated each other for quite a long time before, and only gotten civil recently.

“Is this about the Weaselette?” Draco narrowed his eyes at Harry’s silence.  He remembered seeing Harry’s ex-wife at the match today.  _Did Harry want to return to her?_

Harry looked taken aback, “No, of course not!”  He sounded genuinely surprised at the suggestion, so Draco believed him.  But he was still wondering what Harry’s thoughts were.

“Come on, I’m still waiting,” Draco raised his eyebrows.

“It’s … nothing really,” Harry stammered.

“Liar,” Draco rolled his eyes. “C’mon, where’s the noble, honest, brave Gryffindor in you?” He was baiting him.

“Fine, it’s not nothing, but I don’t want to discuss it,” Harry snapped, looking away.

“I can keep a secret,” Draco said promptly. “I know you think a Slytherin can’t, but –”

“It doesn’t matter.” Harry cut him off. “I just don’t want to discuss it.” He felt thoroughly annoyed.  Annoyed that Draco was still such an irritating brat after all these years. Still had to fight and disagree him on everything.

“Fine,” Draco huffed.  They glared at each other for a moment.

“Look, would you stop being so difficult?  It’s not like I have an obligation to tell you everything!” Harry snapped, irritated with Draco’s attitude.

Draco knew he should be more mature than this.  They had sort of become friendly acquaintances recently, he really should respect more of Harry’s secret and privacy.  But sometimes it just irked him that Harry seemed to be up to something he didn’t know.  It ticked him off.  And he just couldn’t help to argue with him instinctively.

It was always how they had interacted.  Fighting and arguing.  That was what they were most familiar with.

He had always been able to act like a grown up all these years after the war.  He had been over the prejudice towards Muggleborns.  He acted civilly, unlike the utter prat he had been during the Hogwarts days.  If people overlooked his slight unfairness towards Gryffindors, he was a good teacher.  Well, that and the constant detentions he gave Albus Potter.  But this was for one reason only, the one Blaise saw right through – Harry Potter.

The one person that made Draco forgot all his grown-up senses and fought like a child with. 

He knew it was childish, but he couldn’t help it.  He knew he probably shouldn’t play this card, but he did anyway. “It wasn’t any of your business what I was doing back in the sixth year, and yet you kept trying to find out.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Harry looked angry. “You were up to something back then!”

“And you’ve got something on your mind now!” Draco snapped back. “And I haven’t finished!  You just kept following around everywhere and then you tried to kill me too!”

Harry gaped.  His mind flew back to sixth year.  The toilet.  Myrtle.  Sectumsempra.  Draco gushing blood all over.

Draco wondered if he had gone too far.  Still, if Harry dared use that curse, he should be able to hear him mentioning it again, right?

Harry was angry at Draco for insisting Harry tell him what he was thinking.  He was shocked to hear Draco bring up the Sectumsempra incident.  He was angry with himself for having hurt Draco back then.  And he realized he had never actually apologized for that.  So many emotions twirling around and Harry felt like exploding.  He wasn’t sure how long he could control himself.

Because despite the years had made him grown up into someone more level-headed instead of the reckless savior rushing into danger he had been at Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy made him lose all his level-headedness.

“Fine, you want to know it!  Don’t say I didn’t warn you!” He shouted angrily.  He raised both of his hand ( _I really shouldn’t be doing this_ , he thought) and roughly pushed Draco against the wall ( _I really should be civil when we had just come to friendly terms recently_ ) and closed his eyes ( _this isn’t how I imagined things to go, but when has anything ever been, especially when it comes to Draco Malfoy_ ) then opened them again, staring right into Draco’s eyes. “I fucking want you, Draco.”

Led pretty much by his Gryffindor instincts now, Harry pressed his lips onto Draco’s in a hard and rough way.  He was angry at the blond for forcing this out him.  He was really angry, and he was not enjoying how Draco tasted because he was furious. Absolutely furious.

As much as Harry liked to convince himself, the kiss tasted good.  Despite he wanted to say he was angry and not enjoying it in the least bit, it was enjoyable.  Though, of course, he was still angry.

Draco was tightly pressed against the wall, unable to move an inch.  He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t _this_.  Not at all.  As Harry crushed his lips mercilessly, Draco was in a mixed state of shock and lust, because the kiss was just so passionate and hot.  Just like Harry.

 _No wonder people called Gryffindors reckless and daring_ , he thought wryly.

Harry panted slightly, pulling back and glaring at Draco, “happy now?”

Draco blinked at being released from the wall, still a little dazed about the whole thing.  Then a grin slowly spread across his face. “Yeah, most definitely.  Want to do it again?”

It was Harry’s turn to blink. “You want to?” He asked incredulously.  He had thought Draco would be repulsed by the kiss, he hadn’t even know Draco liked boys.

“For ages,” Draco took a deep breath and then grabbed Harry’s shoulders, switching their position quickly and pressed Harry to the walls and kissed him.

 

* * *

 

“Took you guys long enough,” Pansy smirked, waving her finger at them. 

They were now all at the Nott Manor again.  It had been three days since the Quidditch game.

“Honestly, Potter, I can’t believe it when you said you thought it’s impossible for Draco to return your feelings!” Blaise laughed, playing with Hermione’s hair at the same time. “If you can manage to have feelings for him despite your fights – or perhaps because of them, whatever – is it so hard to think he’d feel the same?”

“Shut up,” Harry, who was leaning against Draco closely, muttered and blushed furiously.  Then he turned to Hermione and demanded. “Did _you_ know?”

“What did you think we’ve been trying to do?” Hermione raised an eyebrow. “The party and Slughorn and spending the Christmas together here and making chances for you two to spend time alone.  Do you think I’d be doing this if I don’t think Malfoy likes you?”

Draco laughed and gave Harry a quick kiss, “She has a point.”

Harry groaned and buried his head in his hands, “Hermione, since when do you scheme with the Slytherins?”

“Dating a Slytherin tends to lead to that,” Theo grinned, “I’m sure you’ll learn fast with Draco.”

“Wait, I’ve been wanting to ask …” Draco said suddenly, remembering something. “How the hell did the children got involved?”

“I wanted to know about that, too,” Harry sat up a little straighter from where he was lying on Draco.

“They seemed to figure out by themselves,” Theo shrugged, smirking.

“Yeah, it’s so painfully obvious, only someone as dense as you two took so long,” Pansy commented.

As Harry and Draco both opened their mouths protest, Hermione said faster, “Anyway, I think a toast is in order – to Harry and Draco!” She raised her glass of butterbeer.

Blaise quickly followed suite and raised his glass, “And to me, who started this plan!” He said smugly.  Everyone rolled their eyes as they raised their glasses and drank.

 

* * *

 

“This still felt a little unbelievable,” Harry panted, lying on Draco’s sofa in his office, Draco on top of him.  They had come here straight after they left Theo’s house.  After Draco had scribbled a quick note and sent it with an owl, they began having some fun on the sofa.

“Trust me, this is all very real,” Draco laughed, kissing Harry again. “Seriously, I’ve had more fun these past few months with you back in my life than all these years after war.”

“The feeling’s mutual,” Harry managed to say between the kisses.  _You’ve always brought more feelings and colors into my life than anyone else,_ he thought.

 

* * *

 

“My detention for tonight’s cancelled,” Albus stared at his note the owl just bring, looking shocked. “And so was the one next weekend.  Professor Malfoy _never_ cancelled a detention before.”

Scorpius looked nonplussed for a moment, then knowing dawned on his face and a smirk grew wider, “I think whatever the mission the adults were on lately, it’s quite a success.”

 

* * *

 

“What’s that note you sent earlier?” Harry asked curiously.  He and Draco were now entwined with each other’s body as their hands explore one another freely.

“Just telling some student not to come for detention today,” Draco smirked, “as I plan to be with you all night.”  His hand ran down Harry’s chest, tracing his muscles. “Oh Harry, your body’s just so bloody brilliant,” he breathed.

“You should probably start giving out less detentions from now on,” Harry said in a husky voice seductively. “Since I planned to take up most of your leisure time from now on.”

“Yeah, definitely,” Draco agreed, invading Harry’s mouth with his tongue.  After all, why put the son in detention and fantasize about the father when he could just have the father here?

-FIN-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we come to an end of the Drarry adventure and the matchmaking plans of Blaise and Hermione. Hope you've all enjoyed this story :)

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr: ff-sunset-oasis.tumblr.com


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